■.Wi' '■■''■:■'■.'' 


cxf' 


rrt 


KLONDIKE. 


The  Chicago  record's  book 


FOR 


GOLD-SEEKERS. 


CHAPTER    L 
WHERE  THE  GOLD  IS  FOUND. 

HE  Klondike  placer  mines  are  located 
in  the  Northwest  territory  of  British 
America,  just  east  of  the  Alaskan 
border  line,  and  about  2,200  miles 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon  river. 
The  Klondike  is  a  stream  which  en- 
ters the  Yukon  about  two  miles  from 
Dawson  City,  which  is  about  170 
miles  from  Circle  City.  The  Klon- 
dike is  about  140  miles  in  length,  running  in  a  westerly 
direction,  and  the  gold-bearing  creeks,  where  the  richest 
deposits  have  been  found,  run  into  the  Klondike  from  a 
southerly  direction. 

Two  and  a  half  miles  up  the  Klondike,  from  its  conflu- 
ence with  the  Yukon  river,  is  Bonanza  creek,  which  has 
several  small  tributaries.  Twelve  miles  from  where  the 
Bonanza  creek  enters  the  Klondike,  and  running  ap- 


16  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

proximately  parallel  with  the  Yukon,  is  El  Dorado  creek, 
which  is  from  twelve  to  fifteen  miles  in  length.  About 
seven  miles  further  up  Bonanza  creek  is  Gold  Bottom 
creek,  and  several  miles  beyond  is  Adams  creek,  and 
still  nearer  the  source  of  Bonanza  creek  are  smaller 
streams,  all  gold  bearing.  Some  twelve  miles  up  the 
Klondike  is  Bear  creek,  with  its  tributaries;  twelve  miles 
beyond  Hunker  creek  empties  into  the  Klondike,  and 
about  the  same  distance  from  there,  up  the  Klondike,  is 
Too  Much  Gold  creek.  The  richest  finds  have  been  made 
principally  on  the  Bonanza  and  El  Dorado,  but  rich 
strikes  have  been  reported  on  all  the  creeks  named. 

Prospectors  have  found  rich  deposits  on  Indian  river, 
which  empties  into  the  Yukon  about  fifty  miles  below 
the  Klondike.  Indian  river  runs  in  a  southwesterly  di- 
rection, and  running  out  of  Indian  creek  is  Quartz  creek, 
a  well-explored  stream  about  fifty  miles  from  the  con- 
fluence of  Indian  creek  and  the  Yukon.  About  six  miles 
from  the  mouth  of  Quartz  creek,  extending  in  a  north- 
erly direction  to  the  range  of  hills  which  separates  the 
delta  of  Indian  creek  from  that  of  the  Klondike,  is  First 
Left  Hand  fork;  eight  miles  beyond  is  Kettleson  fork. 
From  the  opposite  side  and  running  in  an  opposite  direc- 
tion out  of  Quartz  creek,  and  about  five  miles  from  its 
mouth,  is  Phil  creek.  From  the  latest  reports  these 
creeks  are  being  prospected  extensively,  and  good  finds 
have  been  made. 

All  of  these  rivers  and  creeks  contain  gold,  and  it  is  be- 
lieved that  over  500  claims  will  be  located  in  Indian  creek 
alone.  Further  south  yet  lies  the  head  of  several 
branches  of  Stewart  river,  on  which  some  prospecting 
has  been  done  and  good  indications  found,  but  the  want 
of  provisions  prevented  development.  Gold  has  been 
found  in  several  of  the  streams  joining  Pelly  river,  and 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  17 

also  all  along  the  Hootalinqua.  In  the  line  of  these  finds 
farther  south  is  the  Cassiar  gold  field  in  British  Colum- 
bia; so  the  presumption  is  that  in  the  territory  along 
tlie  easterly  watershed  of  the  Yukon  is  a  gold- 
bearing  belt  of  indefinite  width,  and  upward  of  three 
hundred  miles  long,  exclusive  of  the  British  Columbia 
part  of  it.  On  the  westerly  side  of  the  Yukon  prospect- 
ing has  been  done  on  a  creek  a  short  distance  above 
Selkirk  with  a  fair  amount  of  success,  and  on  a  large 
creek  some  thirty  or  forty  miles  below  Selkirk  fair  pros- 
pects have  been  found.  But,  as  before  remarked,  the 
difficulty  of  getting  supplies  here  prevents  any  exten- 
sive or  extended  prospecting. 

The  gold  streak  is  anywhere  from  eight  to  thirty  feet 
from  surface  and  is  reached  by  sinking  a  shaft  from  two 
to  three  feet  w'ide  and  six  feet  long  down  to  the  pay 
streak  and  then  drifting  under  ground  along  the  pay 
streak.  Sinking  this  shaft  and  working  the  pay  streak 
is  made  difficult  from  the  fact  that  from  the  surface  to 
the  deepest  depth  that  has  yet  been  reached  the  ground 
is  always  frozen,  and  a  process  of  firing,  in  order  to  thaw 
out  the  ground,  is  employed.  A  brush  and  wood  fire  is 
built  in  the  bottom  of  the  shaft,  which,  burning  all  night, 
thaws  out  the  ground  from  eight  to  fourteen  inches.  The 
gravel  is  shoveled  out  during  the  day  and  the  operation 
repeated  until  the  required  depth  is  reached.  The  aver- 
age progress  in  the  shaft  is  from  eight  to  fourteen  inches 
per  day.  When  the  pay  streak  is  reached  the  miners  drift 
under  the  ground,  which  does  not  have  to  be  supported 
by  timbers  on  account  of  its  being  frozen.  The  fire  in 
thawing  out  the  pay  streak  generates  a  noxious  gas, 
which,  after  the  fire  has  burned  out,  must  be  expelled 
before  work  can  be  done.  This  is  accomplished  by  the 
use  of  bellows,  fans  and  other  devices.    A  machine,  how- 

2 


18  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

ever,  is  being  manufactured  in  Seattle  that  is  expected 
to  expel  these  gases  speedily. 

The  process  of  "placer"  mining  in  Alaska  is  about  as 
follows:  After  clearing  all  the  coarse  gravel  and  stone 
ofif  a  patch  of  ground,  the  miner  lifts  a  little  of  the  finer 
gravel  or  sand  in  his  pan,  which  is  a  broad,  shallow 
dish,  made  of  strong  sheet  iron  or  copper;  he  then  puts 
in  water  enough  to  fill  the  pan,  and  gives  a  few  rapid 
whirls  and  shakes;  this  tends  to  bring  the  gold  to  the 
bottom,  on  account  of  its  greater  specific  gravity. 

The  dish  is  then  shaken  and  held  in  such  a  way  that 
the  gravel  and  sand  are  gradually  washed  out,  care  being 
taken  as  the  process  nears  completion  to  avoid  letting 
out  the  finer  and  heavier  parts  that  have  settled  to  the 
bottom.  Finally  all  that  is  left  in  the  pan  is  whatever 
gold  may  have  been  in  the  dish  and  some  black  sand, 
which  almost  invariably  accompanies  it. 

This  black  sand  is  nothing  but  pulverized  magnetic 
iron  ore.  Should  the  gold  thus  found  be  line,  the  con- 
tents of  the  pan  are  thrown  into  a  barrel  containing  water 
and  a  pound  or  two  of  mercury.  As  soon  as  the  gold 
comes  in  contact  with  the  mercury  it  combines  with  it 
and  forms  an  amalgam. 

The  process  is  continued  until  enough  amalgam  has 
been  formed  to  pay  for  "roasting"  or  "firing."  It  is 
then  squeezed  through  a  buckskin  bag,  all  the  mercury 
that  comes  through  the  bag  being  put  back  into  the  bar- 
rel to  serve  again,  and  what  remains  in  the  bag  is  placed 
in  a  retort,  if  the  miner  has  one,  or,  if  not,  on  a  shovel, 
and  heated  until  nearly  all  the  mercury  is  vaporized. 
The  gold  then  remains  in  a  lump  with  some  mercury  still 
held  in  combination  with  it. 

This  is  called  the  "pan"  or  "hand"  method,  and  is 
never,  on  account  of  its  slowness  and  laboriousness,  con- 


MAPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


MAPS. 

Page 

Klondike  Gold  Field 14 

"All  Wateb"  Route 28,  39 

"Overland"  Route  36,  37 

Takou  River  Route 44 

Stikeen  River  Route 45 

Yukon  River  and  its  Branches 80,  81 

"Back  Door"  Routes ]:i8,  199 

Copper  River  Gold  Field  240 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Chilkoot  Pass.     Frontispiece 2 

Miles  Canyon  Rapids 23 

Wharf  at  Seattle 59 

Juneau 60 

Starting  at  Head  Waters 70 

Work  at  Night 93 

Placer  Gold  Claim,  Miller's  Creek        ...        -  loi 

Circle  City 103 

Northwest  Mounted  Police    -         .        .        -        .        -  ng 

Section  op  a  Klondike  Placer  Claim        -        -        .        .  129 

Miner's  Pan,  Cradle,  Long  Tom  AND  Fr:.;'   -        -        -  130 

Halt  in  Chilkoot  Pass        -------  143 

Steamer  "  Arctic  "  Yukon  River          .        -        -        -        .  157 

Scene  on  Forty  Mile  Creek       ------  153 

View  Across  the  Yukon          ------  168 

Miles  Canyon 177 


xii  MAPS   AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page 

Alaska  Steamer  "Excelsior" 178 

Sxow  Storm  in  the  Mountains           -       -       -       -       -  188 

Dog  Train -       -       -  310 

Sluicing -       -  230 

Dawson  City 230 

Forty  Mile  Creek  and  Town             250 

The  First  Pan          -...--..  260 

Prospectors  Striking  a  New  Creek         .        -        -        -  370 

An  Alaska  Glacier         --------  280 

Lake  Bennett      -        - 290 

Saw  Mill  on  the  Yukon 299 

Sitka       -        -        -        - 300 

Fort  Cudahy 310 

Steamboat  on  the  Yukon 330 

Unalaska 330 

Treadwell  Gold  Mills 340 

Sitka  Harbor    - -  350 

A  Cache  on  the  Yukon       -       -               -       .       .       .  36O 

Pack  Horses  to  the  Pass 370 

Mission  on  the  Yukon  River     ------  388 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Chapter 

I- 

Chapter 

II- 

Chapter 

III- 

Chapter 

IV- 

VChapter 

V- 

Chapter 

VI- 

Chapter 

VII- 

Chapter 

VIII- 

Chapter 

IX- 

Chapter 

X- 

Chapter 

XI- 

Chapter 

XII 

Chapter 

XIII- 

Chapter 

XIV- 

Chapter 

XV- 

^Chapter 

XVI- 

Chapter 

XVII- 

Chapter  XVIII- 

Chapter 

XIX- 

Chapter 

XX- 

Chapter 

XXI- 

Chapter 

XXII- 

Chapter  XXIII- 

Chapter  XXIV— 

Chapter 

XXV- 

Pag9 

-Where  the  Gold  Is  Found, 15 

-How  TO  Get  to  the  Klondike,  -    -    -    -  20 

—The  Gold-Seeker's  Outfit, 50 

-The  Yukon  and  its  Branches,      -    -    -  65 

-Capital  Required  by  Gold-Seekers,       -  94 

-Hints  for  Prospectors  and  Miners,     -  108 

-United  States  Mining  Laws,      -    -    .    -  135 

-Canadian  Mining  Laws, 149 

-Richness  of  the  Placer  Mines,      -    -    -  162 

-Pan  Values  of  Paying  Claims,     -    -    -  175 

-The  "Back  Door"  Route, 189 

—International  Boundary  Dispute,    -    -  213 

-Cold  Winters  and  Short  Summers,  -    -  228 

-Professor  Spurr's  Report, 237 

-Mail  Service  in  the  Klondike,    -    -    -  257 

-Life  in  Dawson  City, 266 

-Ogilvie's  Report  on  the  Yukon  DistpvIct,  287 

-Gold  History  of  Alaska, — 298 

-The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,     -    -    -    -  307 

-Eli  Gage's  Yukon  Journey, 318 

-The  World's  Gold  Product, 343 

-A  Model  Indian  Town, 363 

-Game  in  the  Klondike  Country,  -    -    -    -  373 

-Knew  Yukon  District  Years  Ago.  -    -    -  381 

-History  of  Alaska,       --- 391 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  19 

tinned  for  any  length  of  time  when  it  is  possible  to  pro- 
cure a  "rocker,"  or  to  make  and  work  sluices. 

A  "rocker"  is  simply  a  box  about  three  feet  long  and 
two  wide,  made  in  two  parts,  the  top  part  being  shal- 
low, with  a  heavy  sheet-iron  bottom,  which  is  punched 
full  of  cjuarter-inch  holes.  The  other  part  of  the  box  is 
fitted  with  an  inclined  shelf  about  midway  in  its  depth, 
which  is  six  or  eight  inches  lower  at  one  end  than  at 
the  other.  Over  this  is  placed  a  piece  of  heavy  woolen 
blanket.  The  whole  is  then  mounted  on  two  rockers, 
much  resembling  those  of  an  ordinary  cradle,  and  when 
in  use  they  are  placed  on  two  blocks  of  wood  so  that  the 
whole  may  be  readily  rocked. 

After  the  miner  has  selected  his  claim,  he  looks  for  the 
most  convenient  place  to  set  up  his  "rocker,"  which  must 
be  near  a  good  supply  of  water.  Then  he  proceeds  to 
clear  away  all  the  stones  and  coarse  gravel,  gathering 
the  finer  gravel  and  sand  in  a  heap  near  the  "rocker." 
The  shallow  box  on  top  is  filled  with  this,  and  with  one 
hand  the  miner  rocks  it,  while  with  the  other  he  ladles 
in  water. 

The  finer  matter  with  the  gold  falls  through  the  holes 
on  to  the  blanket,  which  checks  its  progress,  and  holds 
the  fine  particles  of  gold,  while  the  sand  and  other  matter 
pass  over  it  to  the  bottom  of  the  box,  which  is  sloped 
so  that  what  comes  through  is  washed  downward  and 
finally  out  of  the  box. 

Across  the  bottom  of  the  box  are  fixed  thin  slats,  be- 
hind which  some  mercury  is  placed  to  catch  any  particles 
of  gold  which  may  escape  the  blanket.  If  the  gold  is 
nuggety,  the  large  nuggets  are  found  in  the  upper  box, 
their  weight  detaining  them  until  all  the  lighter  stufif 
has  passed  through,  and  the  smaller  ones  are  held  by  a 
deeper  slat  at  the  outward  end  of  the  bottom  of  the 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  23 

out,  thus  enabling  the  miner  to  work  advantageously  and 
profitably  the  year  round.  This  method  has  been  found 
very  satisfactory  in  places  where  the  pay  streak  is  at  any 
great  depth  from  the  surface.  In  this  way  the  complaint 
is  overcome  which  has  been  so  commonly  advanced  by 
the  miners  and  others  that  in  the  Yukon  region  several 
months  in  the  year  are  lost  in  idleness. 

Winter  usually  sets  in  very  soon  after  the  middle  of 
September  and  continues  until  the  beginning  of  June, 
and  is  decidedly  cold.  The  mercury  frequently  falls  to 
60  degrees  below  zero,  but  in  the  interior  there  is  so 
little  humidity  in  the  atmosphere  that  the  cold  is  more 
easily  endured  than  on  the  coast.  In  the  absence  of  ther- 
mometers miners,  it  is  said,  leave  their  mercury  out  all 
night.  When  they  find  it  frozen  in  the  morning  they  con- 
clude it  is  too  cold  to  work,  and  stay  at  home.  The  tem- 
perature runs  to  great  extremes  in  summer  as  well  as 
in  winter.  It  is  quite  a  common  thing  for  the  thermome- 
ter to  register  100  degrees  in  the  shade. 

Gold  dust  passer,  current  at  $17  an  ounce,  though 
actually  of  the  value  c«£  $16.50  an  ounce. 


24  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

CHAPTER    II. 
HOW  TO  GET  TO  THE  KLONDIKE. 


0 


MER  MARIS,  who  was  sent  into  Alaska 
in  1896  by  the  CHICAGO  RECORD, 
and  who  now  is  on  his  way  to  the  Klon- 
dike fields,  made  the  trip  through  the 
Chilkoot  pass.  He  describes  the  va- 
rious routes  to  the  Klondike  as  fol- 
lows : 

There  are  three  principal  ways  of  go- 
ing to  the  Klondike  gold  fields.  One 
is  an  all-water  route  from  Seattle  by  way  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Yukon.  It  is  a  fifteen  days'  voyage  from  Seattle  to 
St.  Michael.  One  goes  straight  out  into  the  Pacific  to- 
ward Japan  for  1,800  miles.  Then  one  turns  through  Uni- 
mak  pass  to  the  Aleutian  islands,  and  touches  for  a  day 
at  the  port  of  Dutch  Harbor.  Thence  one  sails  away  to 
the  north  across  Bering  sea  and  past  the  seal  islands,  800 
miles  farther,  to  the  port  of  St.  Michael. 

This  is  a  transfer  point,  and  the  end  of  the  ocean 
voyage.  At  St.  Michael,  after  a  wait  of  anywhere  from 
a  day  to  two  weeks,  granting  that  the  river  is  open,  one 
may  go  aboard  a  fiat-bottomed  river  steamer  for  another 
fifteen  or  twenty  days'  voyage  up  the  Yukon. 

If  one  should  arrive  at  St.  Alichael  as  early  as  Aug. 
25  he  would  have  pretty  good  assurance  of  reaching  the 
mines  before  cold  weather  closed  river  navigation,  but 
arriving  later  than  that  his  chances  would  be  good  for 
either  wintering  on  the  desolate  little  island  of  St.  Mi- 
chael or  traveling  by  foot  and  dog-sled  the  1,900  miles 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  25 

to  the  mines  after  the  river  had  frozen  into  a  safe  high- 
way. 

The  distance  from  Seattle  to  Dawson  City  by  way  of 
St.  Michael  and  the  Yukon  river  according  to  the  figures 
of  the  Alaska  commercial  company  is  4,720  miles,  as  fol- 
lows : 

Miles. 

Seattle  to  St.  Michael 3,000 

St.  Michael  to  Kutlik 100 

Kutlik  to  Andreafski 125 

Andreafski  to  Holy  Cross 145 

Holy  Cross  to  Koserefsky   5 

Koserefsky  to  Anvik 75 

Anvik  to  Nulato 225 

Nulato  to  Novikakat  I45 

Novikakat  to  Tanana   80 

Tanana  to  Fort  Yukon  45° 

Fort  Yukon  to  Circle  City 80 

Circle  City  to  Forty-Mile 240 

Forty-Mile  to  Dawson  City 5^ 

Distance  from  Seattle 4,722 


The  other  way  of  getting  to  the  mines,  commonly 
called  the  Juneau  route,  is  much  more  direct,  but  it  is 
broken  by  various  methods  of  transportation.  The  first 
stage  is  a  four  days'  trip  from  Seattle  up  the  coast  900 
miles  to  Juneau.  This  is  the  principal  Alaskan  port,  a 
town  of  5,000  inhabitants,  and  a  very  good  outfitting 
point,  as  prices  are  but  little  higher  than  at  the  cities 
of  Puget  sound.  Everything  that  a  miner  needs  can 
be  procured  there  in  ordinary  times,  although  such  a 
rush  as  is  expected  might  exhaust  the  resources  of  the 
town. 

From  Juneau  there  is  yet  another  short  stage  by  salt 
water — 100  miles  a  little  west  of  north,  to  the  head  of  the 
Lynn  canal,  a  long,  narrow  inlet.     The  landing  at  the 


26  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

head  of  the  inlet  is  called  Dyea,  and  has  a  trading  post, 
where  the  things  that  one  inevitably  has  overlooked  in 
the  first  outfitting  may  be  purchased.  There  is  also  at 
Dyea  a  village  of  200  or  300  Chilkoot  Indians,  who  make 
their  living  by  packing  miners'  outfits  over  Chilkoot  pass, 
a  portage  of  from  twenty  to  thirty-two  miles,  according 
to  which  one  of  the  chain  of  small  lakes  one  chooses  to 
begin  fresh-water  navigation. 

The  Indians  have  competition  for  a  part  of  the  dis- 
tance, at  least  in  packing  goods  over  this  portage.  Some 
white  contractors  have  trains  of  pack-horses  that  are 
used  on  the  first  twelve  miles  of  the  distance.  During 
the  last  two  seasons  prices  for  transporting  supplies  from 
Dyea  to  Lake  Bennett,  w^hich  latter  place  is  usually 
made  the  beginning  of  Yukon  navigation,  have  varied 
from  5  cents  a  pound  to  16  cents.  In  the  event  of  there 
being  1,000  or  2,000  men  at  the  pass  at  one  time,  the 
present  service  would  be  inadequate,  and  prices  for  pack- 
ing, no  doubt,  would  go  to  an  extortionate  figure.  Nat- 
urally, this  would  oblige  the  majority  of  gold-seekers  to 
do  their  own  packing.  A  thousand  pounds  of  goods  could 
only  be  considered  a  fair  outfit  for  one  man,  and  if  the 
man  had  to  carry  it  himself,  it  would  take  him  no  less 
than  a  month  to  do  it. 

The  next  thing,  after  getting  safely  over  the  pass,  is 
to  build  a  boat.  Four  men  who  are  handy  with  tools  can 
take  the  standing  spruce,  saw  out  lumber  and  build  a 
boat  large  enough  to  carry  them  and  their  4,000  pounds 
of  provisions  all  in  a  week.  It  should  be  a  good,  staunch 
boat,  for  there  are  storms  to  be  encountered  on  the  lakes, 
and  rapids,  moreover,  that  would  shake  a  frail  craft  to 
pieces.  The  boat  should  have  a  sail  that  could  be  raised 
and  lowered  conveniently. 

With  boat  built  one  starts  from  the  head  of  Lake  Ben- 


"ALL  WATEk"   route  VIA 


ST,   MICHAEL  AND  YUKON  RIVERS. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  31 

nett  on  the  last  stage  of  the  trip — a  sail  of  600  miles 
down  stream  (not  counting  lakes)  to  Dawson  City,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Klondike.  With  fair  weather,  at  the 
evening  of  the  second  day  one  reaches  Miles  canyon, 
the  beginning  of  the  worst  piece  of  water  on  the  trip. 
The  voyager  has  passed  through  Lake  Bennett  and 
Takish  and  Marsh  lakes.  At  the  head  of  Miles  canyon 
begins  three  miles  of  indescribably  rough  water,  which 
terminates  in  White  Horse  rapids. 

During  the  rush  of  gold  hunters  it  is  probable  there 
will  be  men  at  Miles  canyon  who  will  make  a  business 
of  taking  boats  through  the  rapids,  and  unless  one  is 
an  experienced  river  man  it  is  economy  to  pay  a  few  dol- 
lars for  such  service,  rather  than  to  take  the  greater 
chances  of  losing  an  outfit. 

After  the  rapids  comes  Lake  LeBarge,  a  beautiful 
sheet  of  water  thirty-five  miles  long,  and  in  this  connec- 
tion a  suggestion  is  desirable.  Near  the  foot  of  the  lake, 
on  the  left  side,  is  a  creek  coming  in  which  marks  a  good 
game  country.  A  year  ago  and  in  previous  seasons 
moose  were  plentiful  there,  and  in  the  rugged  mountains 
nearer  the  head  of  the  lake  there  always  have  been  good 
hunting  grounds  for  mountain  sheep.  A  delay  of  a  week 
either  in  this  locality  or  almost  any  of  the  small  streams 
that  flow  into  the  succeeding  200  miles  of  river,  for  the 
purpose  of  laying  in  a  good  supply  of  fresh  meat,  is 
worth  considering.  Moose  meat  that  can  be  preserved 
until  cold  weather  sets  in  will  sell  for  a  fancy  price. 

The  first  trading  post  and  settlement  of  white  men 
to  be  encountered  on  the  river  is  at  Fort  Selkirk,  oppo- 
site the  mouth  of  Pelly  river.  Thence  it  is  a  little  more 
than  a  day's  run  down  to  Sixty  Mile,  and  it  takes  less 
than  a  day  to  go  from  Sixty  Mile  to  Dawson  City. 

There  is  another  suggestion  to  consider  before  arriv- 


32  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

ing  at  Sixty  Mile.  All  along  that  part  of  the  river  are 
many  timbered  islands,  covered  with  tall,  straight  spruce. 
With  such  an  influx  of  prospectors  as  is  expected  at 
Dawson  City  before  winter  begins  building  logs  will  be 
in  great  demand.  Cabin  logs  ten  inches  in  diameter  and 
twenty  feet  long,  sold  at  Circle  City  last  year,  in  the  raft, 
at  $3  each.  With  an  increased  demand,  and  with  better 
mines,  the  prices  at  Dawson  City  may  be  much  higher. 
Four  men  can  handle  easily  a  raft  of  500  or  600  such 
logs.  Getting  them  out  would  be  a  matter  of  only  a  week 
or  two. 

The  distance  from  Seattle,  via  the  Chilkoot  pass  route, 
according  to  figures  made  by  the  Northern  Pacific  rail- 
way, is  as  follows: 

Miles.         Miles. 

Seattle  to  Juneau 899 

*Juneau  to  Dyea 96 

Dyea  to  Lake  Lindeman 28 

Across  Lake  Lindeman 6 

Portage,  Lindeman  to  Lake  Bennett i;^ 

Across  Lake  Bennett  to  Cariboo  Crossing.  30 

Across  Tagish  lake 19 

Six-Mile  river  to  Marsh  lake 6 

Across  Marsh  lake 20 

Fifty-i\Iile  river  from  Marsh  lake  to  Lake 

LeBarge 5^ 

Across  Lake  LeBarge 31 

Thirty-Mile  river  to  Hootalinqua  river.  .  .    30 
Down  Hootalinqua  and  Lewes  rivers  to 

Fort  Selkirk 187 

Fort  Selkirk  down  the  Yukon  to  Dawson 

City 195 

Total  distance  from  Dvea  to  Dawson 

City '. 603I 

Distance  from  Seattle  i»5984 


*If  steamers,  however,  go  direct  to    Dyea    this    distance 
would  be  shortened  perhaps  20  miles. 


BOOK   FOR   GOi^D-SEEKERS.  33 

What  is  known  as  the  "Back  Door"  route  to  the  Klon- 
dike, and  sometimes  called  the  Hudson  Bay  company's 
route,  is  by  way  of  St.  Paul  to  Edmonton,  Northwest 
territory,  on  the  Canadian  Pacific  railroad.  It  is  said 
that  prospectors  will  be  able  to  enter  the  Klondike  dis- 
trict much  earlier  in  the  year  if  they  take  this  route.  The 
Back  Door  route  starts  from  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis 
by  way  of  the  Soo  line  and  the  Canadian  Pacific,  and 
is  all  rail  as  far  as  Edmonton.  A  stage  line  runs  to  Atha- 
basca Landing  on  the  Athabasca  river,  forty  miles  away. 
There  the  fortune  hunter  must  provide  himself  with  a 
canoe  and  head  due  north. 

The  Athabasca  current  will  carry  him  into  Athabasca 
lake,  and  finally  into  Great  Slave  lake,  whence  the  Mac- 
kenzie river  flows.  From  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie 
the  Peel  river  must  be  taken  south,  and  then  by  portage 
the  Rocky  mountain  range  is  crossed.  Just  across  the 
range  the  Stewart  river  opens  the  way  to  the  Klondike 
route.  The  distance  is  given  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  com- 
pany as  1,882  miles,  as  follows: 

Miles. 

Edmonton  to  Athabasca  Landing 40 

To  Fort  McMurray 240 

Fort  Chippewyan 185 

Smith  Landing 102 

Fort  Smith 16 

Fort  Resolution 194 

Fort  Providence 168 

Fort  Simpson 161 

Fort  Wrigley 136 

Fort  Norman 184 

Fort  Good  Hope i74 

Fort  Macpherson 282 

Total    ., 1,882 


34  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

It  is  claimed  that  there  are  but  two  portages,  the  first 
forty  miles  from  Edmonton  to  Athabasca  Landing  and 
the  second  is  a  sixteen  miles'  trip  at  Smith  Landing. 
This  last  portage,  however,  is  easy  to  make,  for  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  company  has  built  a  tramway  which  can  be 
used.  There  are  four  or  five  other  portages  on  the  route, 
according  to  the  Canadian  Pacific  officials,  all  of  which 
are  a  few  hundred  yards  in  length. 

The  Back  Door  route  is  the  old  Hudson  Bay  trunk 
line,  which  was  traveled  by  Sir  John  Franklin  in  1825, 
and  almost  constantly  used  by  the  Indians  and  trappers 
ever  since.  It  is  down  grade  all  the  way.  The  Hudson's 
Bay  company  has  small  freight  steamers  plying  wherever 
the  water  is  of  any  depth.  It  is  said  that  able-bodied 
men  can  make  the  trip  from  Edmonton  to  Fort  Mac- 
pherson  in  fifty  to  sixty  days.  If  they  reach  the  mouth 
of  the  JMackenzie  and  find  the  Peel  river  frozen  over  they 
have  the  option  of  dog  trains,  and  it  is  claimed  that  the 
use  of  the  pack  train  cuts  the  difficulties  of  the  Alaskan 
route  in  half.  A.  H.  Heming  of  Montreal,  who  accom- 
panied Casper  Whitney,  when  Whitney  made  his  ex- 
plorations in  the  Barren  lands,  is  authority  for  this  state- 
ment: 

"A  party  of  three  men  with  a  canoe  should  reacii  Fort 
Macpherson  easily  in  from  fifty  to  sixty  days,  provided 
they  are  able-bodied  young  fellows  with  experience  in  that 
sort  of  travel.  They  will  need  to  take  canoes  from  here, 
unless  they  propose  to  hire  Indians  with  large  birch  bark 
canoes  to  carry  them.  Birch  bark  canoes  can  be  secured 
of  any  size  up  to  the  big  ones  manned  by  ten  Indians 
that  carry  three  tons.  But  birch  barks  are  not  reliable 
unless  Indians  are  taken  along  to  doctor  them  and  keep 
them  from  getting  water-logged.  The  Hudson's  Bay  com- 


OVERLAND  ROUTE  VIA 


DYEA,    LEWES   AND   YUKON   RIVERS, 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  39 

pany  will  also  contract  to  take  freight  northward  on 
their  steamers  until  the  close  of  navigation." 

The  rush  through  Chilkoot  pass  this  year  has  con- 
gested that  "thoroughfare"  and  has  caused  many  people 
to  look  around  for  other  ways  for  getting  through  the 
mountain  ranges  into  the  country  where  the  head  waters 
of  the  Yukon  can  be  reached.  The  first  regularly  organ- 
ized prospecting  expedition  which  started  for  the  Yukon 
in  1880  went  through  Chilkoot  pass,  and  since  then  it 
has  been  looked  upon  as  the  only  available  one.  The 
people  of  Juneau  have  been  very  partial  to  the  Chilkoot 
pass,  because  all  persons  going  by  that  route  must  pass 
through  their  city  both  going  and  coming.  This  perhaps 
has  had  something  to  do  with  the  importance  which  Chil- 
koot pass  has  attained  as  a  gateway  to  the  Yukon  coun- 
try. Now,  however,  that  the  rush  for  the  gold  fields  is 
on,  with  a  prospect  of  a  jam  at  Chilkoot  pass  next  spring, 
the  necessity  has  arisen  for  the  investigation  of  other 
ways  of  breaking  through  the  barrier  of  mountains. 

One  of  the  ways  recommended  is  known  as  the  Takou 
route.  The  entrance  to  this  inlet  is  ten  or  twelve  miles 
south  of  Juneau,  and  is  navigable  for  the  largest  ocean 
vessel  a  distance  of  eighteen  miles  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Takou  river.  This  river  is  navigable  by  canoe  at  all 
stages  of  the  water  for  a  distance  of  fifty-three  miles  to 
Nakinah  river,  where  land  travel  has  to  begin.  A  dis- 
tance of  seventy  miles  must  be  traversed  before  Lake 
Teslin — one  of  the  chain  of  lakes  which  form  the  head 
waters  of  the  Yukon — is  reached.  From  here  the  Yukon 
can  be  reached  by  boat  with  comparative  ease.  The  total 
distance  from  Juneau  to  Lake  Teslin  is  150  miles. 

The  Yukon  river  is  not  navigable  for  steamers  of  light 
draught,  except  during  freshets,  which  last  about  a  month 
and  usually  occur  in  June.     Indians  say  the  river  is  open 


40  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

from  May  to  the  middle  of  September  for  canoes  carry- 
ing from  two  to  four  tons  of  freight.  The  wind  during 
the  summer  is  from  the  southwest  and  sails  are  used  on 
the  canoe,  which  greatly  assists  in  working  up  against 
a  four-mile  current.  At  the  end  of  the  fourth  day  the 
mouth  of  the  Nakinah  river  is  reached.  From  here  to 
Lake  Teslin  the  journey  must  be  made  on  foot.  The 
course  is  up  this  stream  until  Katune  creek  is  reached, 
four  or  five  miles.  Then  the  course  is  in  a  northeast  direc- 
tion over  a  low  range  of  mountains,  forming  a  beautiful 
and  undulating  country.  According  to  the  Indians,  the 
snow  in  winter  only  falls  here  to  a  depth  of  from  i8  to  24 
inches.  The  vegetation  in  summer  is  luxuriant  and 
thousands  of  head  of  stock  could  subsist.  The  country 
all  the  way  from  the  inlet  abounds  with  game,  such  as 
cariboo,  deer,  ground-hog,  grouse,  etc.  The  rivers  and 
small  lakes  are  alive  with  fish.  Several  varieties  of  ber- 
ries were  also  found  in  great  quantities. 

On  both  sides  of  the  Takou  river  up  to  the  Nakinah 
the  country  is  quite  level,  being  bottom  land,  and  with 
little  expense  a  good  wagon  road,  or,  for  that  matter,  a 
railroad,  could  be  constructed.  From  Nakinah  river  un- 
til Teslin  lake  is  reached  there  is  no  place  over  which  a 
horse  with  a  200-lb,  pack  could  not  travel.  The  country 
traversed  is  generally  dry.  A  few  swamps  are  encoun- 
tered, but  no  difficulty  is  found  in  getting  around  them. 
With  a  wagon  road  or  even  a  trail  the  head  of  canoe  navi- 
gation on  the  Takou  to  Lake  Teslin,  according  to  In- 
dians, the  thousands  of  people  who  are  on  their  way  to 
the  Klondike  could  reach  their  destination  without  any 
delays  or  stoppages,  and  could  take  along  almost  any 
kind  of  an  outfit.  The  steamers  nnining  north  would  call 
in  at  Takou  inlet  where  a  fleet  of  large  canoes  would  take 
passengers  to  the  head  of  navigation,  and  from  there  by 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  41 

trail  to  Lake  Teslin  and  thence  down  the  Yukon.  This 
route  would  require  not  over  twenty  days'  time  to  reach 
Klondike  after  leaving  Puget  sound. 

Distances  from  Seattle  to  Dawson  City  over  the  Takou 
route  approximate: 

Miles. 

Seattle  to  Juneau   899 

Juneau  to  Takou  inlet   12 

Takou  inlet  to  mouth  of  Takou  river 18 

Takou  river  to  Nakinah  river 53 

Nakinah  river  to  Lake  Teslin  (overland) 70 

Teslin  lake  to  Dawson  City,  through  Teslin  lake, 

Hootalinqua  river,  Lewes  river  and  Yukon  river.   598 

Juneau   to   Dawson   City 1,650 

Another  route  recommended  is  by  way  of  the  Stikeen 
river,  Telegraph  creek  and  Lake  Teslin  to  the  Yukon. 
The  Canadian  government  has  decided  to  make  a  large 
grant  for  opening  up  an  all-Canadian  route  to  the  Yukon 
by  the  Stikeen  river.  Telegraph  creek  and  Lake  Teslin. 
The  trail  has  already  been  cut  through  from  Telegraph 
creek  to  Lake  Teslin,  a  distance  of  150  miles.  A.  E. 
Mills,  one  of  the  party  who  worked  on  the  trail,  says, 
with  the  money  proposed  to  be  spent  by  the  government 
this  will  be  the  best  and  easiest  route  to  the  Yukon,  and 
the  one  that  will  be  generally  used  next  spring.  The 
practicability  of  this  route  is  best  explained  by  Mr.  Mills' 
account  of  the  party's  trip  from  Wrangel  to  Lake  Teslin. 
He  says: 

"We  left  Fort  Wrangel  on  Alay  ly,  and  after  a  pleas- 
ant run  up  the  Stikeen  river  140  miles  on  a  steamer  we 
reached  Telegraph  creek.  On  the  23d  of  May  we  left 
to  commence  operations  by  following  up  Dease  lake 
trail  to  Tahltan  bridge,  and  then  turning  to  the  left  up 
Tahltan  river  on  the  old  Hudson  Bay  trail  to  a  place 


42  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

called  Jimtown,  where  we  camped.  From  this  point  we 
proposed  to  rim  over  the  level  highland,  thereby  mak- 
ing a  more  direct  route  to  the  lake,  but  found  that  route 
would  be  impracticable  on  account  of  the  snow,  a  large 
quantity  being  on  the  ground  at  the  time,  so  that  route 
was  abandoned,  and  then  it  was  decided  to  cut  a  new 
trail  from  Telegraph  creek  straight  across  on  the  left  of 
Tahltan  river,  crossing  the  west  fork  about  fifteen  miles 
from  Telegraph  and  five  miles  farther  on  connecting  with 
the  old  Hudson  Bay  trail,  making  a  saving  of  about  twen- 
ty miles  between  the  points  mentioned. 

"The  old  trail  was  cleared  of  all  obstructions  and  fol- 
lowed to  the  old  Hudson  bay  post,  where  some  log  build- 
ings still  stand.  It  is  here  that  the  only  hill  of  any  ac- 
count was  encountered,  that  being  about  three  miles  of 
heavy  grade.  However,  I  am  sure  this  can  be  remedied 
by  cutting  a  new  trail  around  the  hill,  following  the 
creek.  The  country  in  general  is  very  open,  and  what 
timber  there  is  is  very  small  and  scrubby.  A  good  deal 
of  swamp  land  is  found  and  it  is  very  mossy  in  places, 
but  with  some  corduroy  and  ditching  or  draining  a  fine 
trail  would  be  the  result,  and  I  believe  it  would  be  the 
best  route  to  the  Yukon.  The  trail  runs  through  a  val- 
ley from  five  to  twenty  miles  wide,  which  is  very  level 
with  the  exception  of  the  hill  mentioned  and  a  few 
gulches,  on  which  we  made  good  grades  and  got  over 
easily. 

"About  thirty  miles  this  side  of  Lake  Teslin  we  reached 
the  summit,  where  waters  run  north.  I  may  say  the  head- 
waters of  the  Yukon  commence  from  this  point.  A  great 
number  of  lakes  were  found.  The  last  fifteen  miles  was 
as  good  bottom  as  any  found  on  the  trail.  Here  we 
found  a  large  river  running  into  the  lake,  which  I  sup- 
pose is  formed  by  the  lakes  mentioned  and  the  surround- 


TAKOU    RIVER    ROUTE. 


STIKEEN   RIVER   ROUTE. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  47 

ing  watershed.  The  lake  was  reached  and  we  were  within 
eight  or  ten  days  of  Klondike,  with  smooth  water  and  no 
portages. 

"When  the  government  grant  is  expended  on  the  trail 
the  trip  could  be  made  in  twelve  or  fifteen  days  with  a 
pack  train  from  Telegraph  creek,  at  per  pound,  say,  12 
cents,  and  could  leave  by  the  middle  of  May  in  ordinary 
seasons  and  by  the  time  the  destination  would  be  reached 
the  ice  would  be  out  of  the  lakes.  One  very  important 
feature  of  the  trail  is  that  abundant  grass  is  to  be  found 
all  the  way." 

Approximate  distances  from  Seattle  to  Dawson  City 
over  the  Stikeen  route : 

Miles. 

Seattle  to  Fort  Wrangel   750 

From  Fort  Wrangel  up  Stikeen  river  to  Telegraph 

creek   1 50 

Telegraph  creek  to  Teslin  lake  (overland) 150 

Teslin  lake  to  Dawson  City,  through  Teslin  lake, 

Hootalinqua  river,  Lewes  river  and  Yukon  river.   598 

Total  distance  from  Seattle  to  Dawson  City.  . .  .1,648 

One  party  of  gold  seekers  followed  the  Stikeen  route. 
A  member  of  the  party,  Albert  D.  Gray,  of  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.,  describes  the  route  fully.  As  the  Stikeen  route  is 
to  be  developed  and  improved  by  the  Canadian  govern- 
ment, Mr.  Gray's  detailed  description  is  of  considerable 
value.    He  said: 

"From  Seattle  we  went  to  Fort  Wrangel,  140  miles 
this  side  of  Juneau,  and  there  we  took  the  150-ton  steamer 
Alaskan,  which  plies  on  the  Stikeen  river.  The  Stikeen 
river  is  very  broad  at  some  points  and  at  others  where 
it  runs  through  canyons  it  narrows  down  to  100  feet  or 
so,  just  room  enough  for  the  steamer  to  pass  between 
the  steep,  rocky  walls.    Rapids  were  numerous,  and  fre- 


48  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

quently  the  crew  would  have  to  go  ashore  and  line'  the 
steamer  through  a  narrow  rapid,  where  the  water  ran 
so  swiftly  that  it  made  us  dizzy;  when  nearing  a  bit  of 
water  of  this  kind  the  propeller  was  never  used.  After 
shutting  down  the  machinery,  lines  would  be  attached 
to  a  steam  capstan  on  the  deck  of  the  steamer.  The  ends 
of  these  lines  then  were  made  fast  to  trees  on  either  side 
of  the  river,  and  by  means  of  the  steam  capstan  the  boat 
was  warped  along  cautiously  until  open  water  was 
reached. 

"The  weather  was  not  so  cold  as  we  looked  for,  just 
bracing;  the  trail  along  the  Stikeen  follows  the  left  bank 
of  the  river  almost  to  the  confluence  of  the  Iskoot  river, 
where  it  crosses  the  Stikeen,  following  the  left  bank  of  the 
Iskoot  to  Telegraph  creek.  At  that  point  the  trail  trends 
to  the  west  and  north  as  far  as  the  Tahlian  river,  following 
that  course  over  a  great  flat  plateau  until  the  foot  of  Tes- 
lin,  or  Allen's,  lake  is  reached.  Telegraph  creek  is,  as 
far  as  the  Stikeen  river,  navigable. 

"There  were  three  others  besides  Chappell  and  myself 
i»  the  party  which  reached  Telegraph  creek  on  the  Alas- 
kan. At  the  creek  six  white  men  and  two  Stick  Indians 
joined  our  party.  We  hired  the  Indians  to  act  as  guides 
as  far  as  the  Cassiar  gold  diggings  near  Diese  lake,  sev- 
enty-two miles  to  the  north  of  Telegraph  creek.  We 
started  for  Diese  lake  afoot,  packing  our  provisions  and 
supplies,  of  which  we  had  an  abundance,  on  thirteen 
horses.  On  this  journey  we  made  about  six  miles  every 
twenty-four  hours,  going  into  camp  whenever  we  felt 
like  it. 

"At  the  Cassiar  diggings  we  found  a  few  Chinamen 
working  placers,  but  they  made  only  a  bare  living,  so 
our  party  after  looking  over  the  ground  decided  not  to 
stay  there.     We  concluded  to  push  on  for  Lake  Teslin, 


BOOK   FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  49 

which  is  about  140  miles  to  the  north  of  Cassiar.  Previous 
to  that  time  some  white  men  had  been  as  far  on  that 
route  as  the  Koukitchie  lakes,  seventy-five  miles  beyond 
Telegraph  creek,  but  we  blazed  the  trail  from  that  point 
on  to  Lake  Teslin  and  through  to  the  Yukon  river.  It 
is  probable  that  we  made  some  deviations  from  what 
is  now  the  known  route.  The  tramp  to  Lake  Teslin  was 
not  so  very  difficult,  considering  that  we  were  in  a  coun- 
try never  before  trodden  by  the  foot  of  a  civilized  man. 
We  had  some  trouble  with  rivers  and  creeks,  and  had 
to  cut  down  trees  and  lay  bridges  across  Nahlin  river  and 
Beebe  creek.  It  is  a  comparatively  safe  and  easy  jour- 
ney, nevertheless. 

"On  the  19th  day  of  July  we  reached  Lake  Teslin.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  bodies  of  waters  on  the  Amer- 
ican continent.  Its  dimensions  are  about  130  miles  long 
by  an  average  of  three  and  one-half  miles  wide.  When 
we  were  there  the  ground  was  free  of  snow  and  vegeta- 
tion was  abundant.  We  remained  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake 
Teslin  some  two  or  three  weeks,  when  Chappell  and  I 
decided  to  leave  the  others  and  try  to  find  our  way  to 
the  Yukon  river.  Before  setting  out  we  prospected  up 
the  Nisulatine  river,  but  found  no  gold.  Upon  leaving 
the  lake  my  friend  and  I  followed  the  Hootalinqua  or 
Teslin  river,  a  fine  stream  about  120  miles  in  length, 
toward  the  Klondike  country.  It  flows  into  the  Yukon 
just  above  the  Klondike  district,  where  it  and  Thirty- 
Mile  or  Lewes  river  join  in  practically  forming  the  Yu- 
kon. Here  all  the  trails  into  that  country  meet  together 
in  a  great  canyon  in  Seminow  hills.  Thirty-Mile  river 
drains  the  lakes  about  Dyea  pass. 

"After  leaving  the  mouth  of  the  Hootalinqua  we  fol- 
lowed the  Yukon  slowly  into  Dawson  City,  which  we 
reached  on  the  12th  of  October." 


50 


THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 


CHAPTER   III. 
THE  GOLD-SEEKERS'  OUTFIT. 

EXT  to  a  supply  of  ready  cash  a  man  who 
has  designs  upon  the  placer  mines  of 
the  Klondike  region  will  need  at  least 
one  year's  supply  of  food,  clothing  and 
working  materials.  This  is  the  advice 
which  is  given  by  all  who  have  returned 
from  the  scene  of  the  great  gold  strikes. 
The  miners  and  prospectors  who  have 
been  to  Alaska  insist  that  no  man 
should  think  of  going  to  that  country  for  the  purpose  of 
prospecting  for  gold  without  at  least  one  years  supply 
of  provisions  and  with  a  cash  capital  of  at  least  $500  to 
$1,000. 

Many  of  those  w-ho  rushed  for  the  Klondike  this  year 
failed  to  take  this  advice,  and  as  a  consequence  large 
numbers  were  turned  back  by  the  Northwestern  mounted 
poHce  at  the  very  gateway.  Hundreds  of  lists  of  "essen- 
tials" have  been  made  up  by  men  who  are  experienced 
Alaska  prospectors  and  miners.  An  analysis  of  twenty 
so-called  practical  lists  indicates  that  the  list  makers  had 
largely  consulted  their  individual  preferences  as  to  the 
quantity  and  quality  of  certain  kinds  of  rough  and  ready 
"delicacies." 

This  analysis  shows  that  the  man  who  has  lived  in 
Alaska  among  the  gold-bearing  creeks  for  anywhere 
from  one  to  ten  years  figures  that  an  adequate  supply 
of  food  per  day  per  man  varies  from  four  and  a  half  to 
five  and  a  half  pounds.  This  would  bring  the  actual 
food  supply  for  one  year  for  each  person  to  fully  1,600 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  51 

pounds.  Highly  carbonaceous  food  should  predomi- 
nate; stimulants  of  alcoholic  character  should  be  avoided. 

One  pound  of  tea  is  equal  to  seven  pounds  of  coffee 
for  drinking  purposes;  three-quarters  of  an  ounce  of 
saccharin  (this  concentrated  sweet  can  be  obtained  from 
druggists)  is  equal  to  twenty-five  pounds  of  sugar,  so 
that  three  ounces  of  saccharin  is  equal  to  lOO  pounds  of 
sugar.     Citric  acid  is  a  remedy  for  scurvy. 

"Jack  Carr,"  the  famous  Yukon  mail  carrier,  has  given 
a  list  for  an  outfit  which,  he  says,  will  last  one  man  one 
year  in  the  Klondike  district.     This  list  follows: 

Flour,  pounds 400 

Cornmeal,  pounds 50 

Rolled  oats,  pounds 50 

Rice,  pounds  35 

Beans,  pounds  100 

Candles,  pounds 40 

Sugar,  granulated,  pounds 100 

Baking  powder,  pounds 8 

Bacon,  pounds 200 

Soda,  pounds 2 

Yeast  cakes  (6  in  package)  packages 6 

Salt,  pounds 15 

Pepper,  pounds i 

Mustard,  pounds ^ 

Ginger,  pounds i 

Apples,  evaporated,  pounds 25 

Peaches,  evaporated,  pounds 25 

Apricots,  evaporated,  pounds 25 

Fish,  pounds 25 

Pitted  plums,  pounds 10 

Raisins,  pounds 10 

Onions,  evaporated,  pounds 5° 

Potatoes,  evaporated,  pounds 5^ 

Coffee,  pounds 24 

Tea,  pounds  5 

Milk,  condensed,   dozen 4 

Soap,  laundry,  bars 5 

3 


52  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

Matches,  packages 60 

Soup  vegetables,  pounds 15 

Butter,  sealed,  cans 25 

Tobacco,  at  discretion 

Stove,  steel 

Gold  pan   

Granite  buckets,  i  nest  of 3 

Cups 

Plates  (tin) 

Knives  and  forks,  each 

Spoons — tea,  i ;  table 2 

Whetstones 

Coflfee  pot   

Pick  and  handle 

Saw,  hand  

Saw,  whip 

Hatchet 

Shovels,  ^  spring 2 

Nails,  pounds 20 

Files   3 

Drawknif  e 

Ax  and  handle 

Chisels,  3  sizes 3 

Butcher  knife 

Hammer 

Compass 

Jack  plane 

Square 

Yukon  sleigh 

Lash  rope,  ^-inch,  feet 60 

Rope,  |-inch,  feet 150 

Pitch,  pounds 15 

Oakum,  povinds 10 

Frying  pans 2 

Woolen  clothes. 

Boots  and  shoes. 

Snow-glasses. 

If  one  is  not  going  to  build  a  boat,  the  oakum,  pntch 
and  tools  can  be  dispensed  with.  In  summer  a  sled  is 
not  necessary.     Those  going  on  a  steamer  by  way  of 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  53 

St.  Michael  are  recommended  to  take  plenty  of  deli- 
cacies, costing  little,  but  greatly  appreciated.  Above  all, 
the  caution  is  given,  "take  plenty." 

The  Northern  Pacific  railroad  company  has  made  up 
a  list  of  supplies  necessary  for  one  man  for  one  year  for 
the  Klondike  mining  outfit  and  the  cost  of  the  same  at 
Seattle  and  Tacoma.  The  passenger  officials  of  the  road 
say  that  this  list  can  be  relied  upon  as  containing  every- 
thing that  is  needed: 

Bacon,  pounds  1 50 

Flour,  pounds    400 

Rolled  oats,  pounds  25 

Beans,  pounds  125 

Tea,  pounds   10 

Coffee,  pounds 10 

Sugar,  pounds   25 

Dried  potatoes,  pounds   25 

Dried  onions,  pounds 2 

Salt,  pounds  15 

Pepper,  pounds   i 

Dried  fruits,  pounds 75 

Baking  powder,  pounds 8 

Soda,  pounds  2 

Evaporated  vinegar,  pounds   -| 

Compressed  soup,  ounces   12 

Soap,  cakes 9 

Mustard,  cans    i 

Matches  (for  four  men),  tins  i 

Stove  for  four  men. 

Gold  pan  for  each. 

Set  granite  buckets. 

Large  bucket. 

Knife,  fork,  spoon,  cup  and  plate. 

Frying  pan. 

Cofifee  and  tea  pot. 

Scythe  stone. 

Two  picks  and  one  shovel. 

One  whipsaw. 

Pack  strap. 


54  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

Two  axes  for  four  men  and  one  extra  handle. 

Six  8-inch  files  and  two  taper  files  for  party. 

Drawing  knife,  brace  and  bits,  jack  plane  and  hammer, 
for  party. 

200  feet  three-eighths-inch  rope. 

8  pounds  of  pitch  and  five  pounds  of  oakum  for  four 
men. 

Nails,  five  pounds  each  of  6,  8,  10  and  12-penny,  for 
four  men. 

Tent,  10x12  feet,  for  four. 

Canvas  for  wrapping. 

Two  oil  blankets  to  each  boat. 

5  yards  mosquito  netting  for  each  man. 

3  suits  heavy  underwear. 

1  heavy  mackinaw  coat. 

2  pairs  heavy  mackinaw  trousers. 
I  heavy  rubber-lined  coat. 

1  dozen  heavy  wool  socks. 

"I  dozen  heavy  wool  mittens. 

2  heavy  overshirts. 

2  pairs  heavy  snagproof  rubber  boots. 
2  pairs  shoes. 

4  pairs  blankets  (for  two  men). 
4  towels. 

2  pairs  overalls. 
I  suit  oil  clothing. 

Besides  these  things  each  man  procures  a  small  assort- 
ment of  medicines,  and  each  is  provided  with  several 
changes  of  summer  clothing. 

The  foregoing  outfit  costs  in  round  figures  as  follows : 

Groceries    $  40.00 

Clothing 50.00 

Hardware 50.00 

Total   $140.00 

The  outfits  purchased  in  Seattle  by  twenty  experienced 
miners  on  their  way  to  the  Klondike  are  regarded  as 
models  by  miners  and  prospectors  who  have  returned 
from  that  region.     The  twenty  men  first  divided  them- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS. 

selves  into  five  parties  of  four  men  each,  intending  to 
have  a  boat  for  each  party  as  well  as  a  tent,  and  various 
smaller  articles.  The  main  items  of  their  outfits  are  as 
follows,  the  items,  when  not  otherwise  mentioned,  being 
for  one  man; 

Bacon,  pounds   150 

Flour,  pounds    250 

Rolled  oats,  pounds   25 

Beans,  pounds   100 

Tea,  pounds  10 

Cofifee,  pounds 10 

Sugar,  pounds   40 

Dried  potatoes,  pounds    25 

Dried  onions,  pounds   2 

Salt,  pounds  ^o 

Pepper,  pounds    ^ 

Dried  fruits,  pounds  75 

Baking  powder,  pounds 4 

Soda,  pounds  ^ 

Evaporated  vinegar,  pounds  2 

Compressed  soup,  ounces   12 

Soap,  cakes 9 

Mustard,   cans    ^ 

Matches  (for  four  men),  tins i 

Rice,  pounds    4° 

Stove  for  four  men. 

Gold  pan  for  each. 

Set  granite  buckets. 

Large  bucket. 

Knife,  fork,  spoon,  cup  and  plate. 

Frying  pan. 

Cofifee  and  tea  pot. 

Scythe  stone. 

Two  picks  and  one  shovel. 

One  whipsaw. 

Pack  strap. 

Two  axes  for  four  m.en  and  one  extra  handle. 

Six  8-inch  files  and  two  taper  files  for  party 

Drawing  knife,  brace  and  bits,  jack  plane  and  hammer, 
for  party. 


56  THE    CHICAGO  RECORD'S 

200  ^''•t  3-8-inch  rope. 

S  pounds  of  pitch  and  five  pounds  of  oakum  for  four 
..  -  ]i. 

Vails,  five  pounds  each  of  6,  8,  10  and  12-penny,  for 
four  men. 

Shoemaker's  thread. 

Shoemaker's  awl. 

Gum  for  patching  gum  boots. 

Tent,  10x12  feet,  for  four. 

Canvas  for  wrapping. 

Two  oil  blankets  to  each  boat. 

5  yards  mosquito  netting  for  each  man. 

3  suits  heavy  underwear. 

1  heavy  mackinaw  coat. 

2  pairs  heavy  mackinaw  trousers. 
•|  dozen  heavy  wool  socks. 

■|  dozen  heavy  wool  mittens. 

2  heavy  overshirts. 

2  pairs  heavy  snagproof  itibber  boots. 

2  pairs  shoes. 

3  pairs  blankets  (for  two  men). 

4  towels. 

2  pairs  overalls. 

1  suit  oil  clothing. 

2  rubber  blankets. 

Besides  these  things  each  man  procures  a  small  as- 
sortment of  medicines,  and  each  is  provided  with  several 
changes  of  summer  clothing. 

Here  is  a  list  of  medicines  for  four  men: 

25c  worth  cascara  sagrada  bark. 

I  bottle  good  whisky. 

3  boxes  carbolic  salve. 
I  bottle  arnica. 

The  above  outfit  cost  in  round  figures  as  follows: 

Groceries $  40.00 

Clothing 50.00 

Hardware  50.00 

Total   $140.00 


BOOK  FOR  GOLD-SEEKBRS.  57 

Fare  to  Dyea  and  incidentals  brought  the  expense  of 
these  twenty  prospectors. up  to  about  $175  each.  They 
believe  that  they  are  very  well  supplied  for  a  year's  stay 
in  the  land  of  the  midnight  sun. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  lists  made  up  by  the  twenty 
miners  and  the  list  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  are 
identical  in  many  respects,  indicating  that  the  miners 
based  their  estimates  upon  the  estimate  made  by  the  rail- 
road company.  The  miners  made  up  their  lists,  however, 
after  numerous  consultations  with  returned  miners  in 
Seattle,  and,  as  a  result,  made  up  a  lighter  pack. 

A  Seattle  outfitting  house,  which  has  been  in  the  busi- 
ness for  a  number  of  years,  made  out  the  following 
"standard"  list  of  clothing,  which  the  proprietor  of  the 
establishment  said  would  weigh  140  pounds,  and  would 
be  necessary,  if  the  miner  wanted  to  be  really  comfortable 
in  the  Klondike  regions: 

Seattle     Forty  Mile 

price.  price. 

Four  suits  wool  underclothes  $20.00  $80.00 

Two  heavy  sweaters   10.00  30.00 

Two  "mackinaws"  or  Havre  shirts.  . .  .  20.00  60.00 

Four  pairs  caribou  mittens 8.00  20.00 

Two  fur  caps  10.00  20.00 

Two  fur  robes QO-OO  200.00 

Three  pairs  blankets  25.00  100.00 

Three  pairs  overalls   3.00  25.00 

Four  pairs  moccasins   i5-00  20.00 

One  cape,  with  hood,  "parkie" 15.00  30.00 

Four  heavy  wool  shirts i5-00  45-00 

Three  pairs  rubber  boots i5-00  75.00 

Twelve  pairs  wool  stockings 30.00  100.00 

Totals    $276.00         $805.00 

This  outfitting  establishment  has  adopted  the  following 


58  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

list  of  supplies  suitable  for  six  months  for  one  man  on 
the  Klondike: 

Weight       Cost  in         Cost  at 

Outfit.                              (lbs.)  Seattle.     Forty   Mile. 

Beans loo  $2.50  $10.00 

Baking  powder 10  5.00  20.00 

Bacon 100  15.00  55.00 

Butter 50  15.00  60.00 

Coffee 25  7.50  35.00 

Flour   400  11.00  75-00 

Fruit  (dried)   100  5.00  40.00 

Lard 40  4.00  25.00 

Matches 5  6.00  15.00 

Milk  (condensed) 25  5.00  50.00 

Pepper 3  .75  5.00 

Potatoes  (dried)   100  5.00  30.00 

Rice   20  i.oo  10.00 

Salt 10  1.00  5.00 

Stove  and  utensils no  90.00  400.00 

Pick,    shovel,    ax,    hatchet, 

etc 20  I5-00  125.00 

Tea 25  8.00  40.00 

Totals 1,143  $196.75        $1,000.00 

The  lists  of  supplies  are  intended  as  a  guide  for  those 
who  desire  to  make  the  trip  to  the  Klondike  overland, 
that  is,  through  one  of  the  several  passes  which  will  lead 
to  the  Lewes  and  Yukon  river  routes.  The  steamboats 
that  run  up  the  Yukon  river  to  St.  INIichael  are  operated 
by  com.panies  who  have  store  houses  in  Circle  City,  Fort 
Cudahy,  Forty  Mile,  Dawson  City  and  other  points. 
These  transportation  and  trading  companies  will  not 
carry  the  "grub"  supply  for  their  passengers,  so  that  pros- 
pectors who  take  the  Yukon  river  route  will  not  be  able 
to  purchase  their  food  supply  before  they  start. 

V/hile  it  is  probab?e  that  gold  seekers  will  be  able  to 
$ave  some  money  Vy'  p'urcl^asing  their  supplies  at  home  if 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  61 

they  are  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  it  will  be  the  better 
policy  to  purchase  supplies  in  San  Francisco,  Seattle, 
Portland,  V^ictoria  or  from  whatever  port  the  start  is 
made.  In  those  cities  ever}^thing  that  will  be  required 
can  be  obtained,  and  the  outfitting  establishments  and 
stores  will  pack  the  goods  in  a  way  w'hich  experience  has 
proved  to  be  the  best. 

Omer  Maris,  of  the  CHICAGO  RECORD,  who  has 
made  the  trip  overland  and  also  dov.-n  the  Yukon,  sent 
the  following  suggestion  regarding  boats  from  Seattle 
just  before  he  sailed  for  Dyea  Aug.  2,  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  intend  to  go  overland: 

"The  greatest  demand  for  any  particular  thing  is  for 
boats.  People,  to  save  time  in  getting  down  the  river, 
should  take  their  boats  with  them.  A  half  dozen 
carpenters  or  planing-mill  establishments  have  caught 
the  idea  and  are  working  night  and  day  turning  out 
knockdown  boats.  One  that  will  carry  a  ton  costs  about 
$18  and  weighs  about  200  pounds.  It  is  taken  apart 
with  no  pieces  more  than  six  or  seven  feet  long  and 
packed  for  shipping.  The  demand  is  so  good  for  these 
boats  that  the  builders  are  several  days  behind  with  their 
orders.  The  principal  objection  to  them  is  that  the  In- 
dians and  packers  dislike  to  contract  to  carry  them  over 
the  m.ountains  on  account  of  their  awkward  shape.  One 
builder  has  now^  worked  out  a  model  for  a  galvanized  iron 
boat  that  can  be  carried  in  sections  fitting  together  like 
a  "nest"  of  custard  dishes  and  can  be  put  together  with 
small  bolts.  As  a  suggestion  to  those  coming  from  the 
east,  I  would  say  that  a  canvas  folding  boat  that  will  carry 
two  tons  and  is  constructed  on  good  lines  would  be  very 
available  for  the  Yukon.  A  keel,  mast  and  some  addi- 
tional bracing  could  be  added  after  reaching  the  interior." 

One  of  the  miners  who  returned  from  the  Yukon  dis- 


62  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

trict  after  five  years  in  that  country  had  this  word  of  advice 
to  give  to  tenderfeet: 

"Very  rarely  is  sufficient  importance  attached  to  the 
medical  chest,  which  should  have  a  place  in  every  pros- 
pector's pack.  In  case  of  emergency,  drugs  and  ap- 
pliances for  the  relief  of  pain  are  invaluable.  A  supply 
of  citric  acid  should  be  carried  for  the  relief  of  scurvy. 
The  astringent  property  of  the  lime  or  lemon  is  due  to 
this  acid.  A  few  drops  mixed  with  water  and  sugar 
makes  excellent  lemonade.  The  drug  store  can  furnish 
saccharin  tablets  in  place  of  sugar;  three-quarters  of  an 
ounce  of  this  concentrated  sweet  is  equal  to  twenty-five 
pounds  of  sugar.  It  will  be  easily  seen  what  a  saving 
this  would  effect.  An  hundred  pounds  of  sugar  at  5^ 
cents  per  pound  would  be  $5.50.  Add  to  this  22  cents 
per  pound  for  packing  over  the  summit  at  Dyea,  and  the 
total  cost  is  $27.50,  besides  the  room  it  would  take.  Sac- 
charin costs  but  $1.50  an  ounce,  and  the  three  ounces, 
equal  to  100  pounds  of  sugar,  would  cost  but  $4.50,  the 
cost  of  packing  being  nominal  for  such  small  bulk. 

"Some  preparation  for  the  reception  of  the  myriads  of 
mosquitoes  is  also  necessary. 

"The  following  articles  would  each  be  found  of  use,  to 
be  purchased  in  quantities  according  to  the  judgment  of 
the  individual:  Liniment  for  sprains  and  cold  on  the 
lungs,  tincture  of  iron  to  enrich  the  blood,  extract  of  Ja- 
maica ginger,  laudanum,  vaseline,  carbolic  ointment, 
salts,  cough  tablets,  mustard  and  adhesive  plasters,  sur- 
geon's lint,  bandages,  liver  pills,  powder  for  bleeding,  ab- 
sorbent cotton,  surgeon's  sponge,  needles  and  silk,  qui- 
nine capsules  and  toothache  drops." 

All  supplies  are  subject  to  a  tariff  tax  by  the  Canadian 
government,  and  if  this  policy  is  continued,  gold  seekers 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  63 

must  be  prepared  to  pay  the  Canadian  customs  officials 
an  entry  tax  as  follows: 

Shovels  and  spades,  picks,  etc.,  25  per  cent. 

Horses,  20  per  cent. 

Axes,  hatchets  and  adzes,  25  per  cent. 

Baking  powder,  6  cents  per  pound. 

Bed  comforters,  32^  per  cent. 

Blankets,  5  cents  per  pound  and  25  per  cent. 

Boats  and  ships'  sails,  25  per  cent. 

Rubber  boots,  25  per  cent. 

Boots  and  shoes,  25  per  cent. 

Breadstuffs,  viz.,  grain,  flour  and  meal  of  all  kinds,  20 
per  cent. 

Butter,  4  cents  per  pound. 

Candles,  28  per  cent. 

Cartridges  and  ammunition,  30  per  cent. 

Cheese,  3  cents  per  pound. 

Cigars  and  cigarettes,  $2  per  pound  and  26  per  cent. 

Clothing — Socks,  10  cents  per  dozen  pairs  and  35  per 
cent. 

Knitted  goods  of  every  description,  35  per  cent. 

Ready-made  goods,  partially  of  wool,  30  per  cent. 

Waterproof  clothing,  35  per  cent. 

Coffee,  condensed,  30  per  cent;  roasted,  2  cents  per 
pound  and  10  per  cent;  substitutes,  2  cents  per  pound; 
extracts,  3  cents  per  pound. 

Condensed  milk,  3  cents  per  pound. 

Cotton  knitted  goods,  35  per  cent. 

Crowbars,  35  per  cent. 

Cutlery,  35  per  cent. 

Dogs,  20  per  cent. 

Drugs,  20  per  cent. 

Duck,  from  20  to  30  per  cent. 

Earthenware,  30  per  cent. 

Edge  tools,  35  per  cent. 

Fire  arms,  20  per  cent. 

Fishhooks  and  lines,  25  per  cent. 

Flour,  wheat,  75  cents  per  barrel;  rye,  50  cents  per 
barrel. 

Fruits,  dried,  25  per  cent. 


64  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

Fruits,  prunes,  raisins,  currants,  i  cent  per  pound. 
Fruits,  jellies,  jams,  preserves,  3  cents  per  pound. 
Fur  caps,  muffs,  capes,  coats,  25  per  cent. 
Furniture,  30  per  cent. 
Galvanized  iron  or  tinware,  30  per  cent. 
Guns,  20  per  cent. 
Hardware,  32^  per  cent. 
Harness  and  saddlery j,  30  per  cent. 
Jerseys,  knitted,  35  per  cent. 
Lard,  2  cents  per  pound. 
Linen  clothing,  32^  per  cent. 
Maps  and  charts,  20  per  cent. 

Meats,  canned,  25  per  cent;    in  barrel,    2  cents  per 
pound. 

Oatmeal,  20  per  cent. 

Oiled  cloth,  30  per  cent. 

Pipes,  35  per  cent. 

Pork,  in  barrel,  2  cents  a  pound. 

Potatoes,  15  cents  a  bushel. 

Potted  meats,  25  per  cent. 

Powder,  mining  and  blasting,  2  cents  a  pound. 

Rice,  I  1-4  cents  a  pound. 

Sacks  or  bags,  20  per  cent. 

Sawmills,  portable,  30  per  cent. 

Sugar,  64-100  cents  a  pound. 

Surgical  instruments,  15  per  cent. 

Tents,  32^  per  cent. 

Tobacco,  42  cents  per  pound  and  12^  per  cent. 


BOOK   FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  65 

CHAPTER   IV. 
THE  YUKON  AND  ITS  BRANCHES. 

EFORE  William  Ogilvie,  the  famous 
explorer  and  the  Dominion  land  sur- 
veyor of  the  Department  of  the  In- 
terior of  the  Canadian  government, 
surv^eyed  the  entire  distance  from 
Dyea  to  the  crossing  of  the  interna- 
tional boundary  line  and  the  Yukon 
river,  the  information  respecting  the 
Yukon  district  was  derived  from  hearsay  and  unreliable 
sources.  Mr.  Ogilvie  is  regarded  as  the  best  informed 
man  in  the  world  in  regard  to  this  district,  which  has 
become  famous  the  world  over  since  gold  was  struck  on 
the  Klondike.  He  has  embodied  a  fund  of  information 
of  the  utmost  value  to  prospectors  in  his  report,  which 
is  just  ofi.  the  presses  of  the  government  printing  bureau 
at  Ottawa,  Ontario. 

His  surveys  of  the  Yukon  and  its  tributaries  were 
made  for  the  purpose  of  giving  to  the  Canadian  govern- 
ment the  information  needed  for  taking  up  the  question 
of  improving  the  navigability  of  those  rivers.  As  gold 
has  been  found  in  almost  all  of  the  creeks,  streams  and 
rivers  named  by  Mr.  Ogilvie  in  his  valuable  report,  it  is 
reprinted  in  these  pages  for  the  purpose  of  giving  miners 
and  prospectors  authentic  information  derived  from  an 
official  source.     It  is  as  follows: 

"For  the  purpose  of  navigation  a  description  of  the 
Lewes  river  begins  at  the  head  of  Lake  Bennett.  Above 
that  point,  and  between  it  and  Lake  Lindeman,  there 


66  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

is  only  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  of  river,  which 
is  not  more  than  fifty  or  sixty  yards  wide,  and  two  or 
three  feet  deep,  and  it  is  so  swift  and  rough  that  naviga- 
tion is  out  of  the  question. 

"Lake  Lindeman  is  about  five  miles  long  and  a  half 
mile  wide.  It  is  deep  enough  for  all  ordinary  purposes. 
Lake  Bennett  is  twenty-six  and  a  quarter  miles  long,  for 
the  upper  fourteen  of  which  it  is  about  half  a  mile  wide. 
About  midway  in  its  length  an  arm  comes  in  from  the 
west,  which  Schwatka  appears  to  have  mistaken  for  a 
river,  and  named  Wheaton  river.  This  arm  is  wider  than 
the  other  arm  down  to  that  point,  and  is  reported  by  In- 
dians to  be  longer  and  heading  in  a  glacier  which  lies 
in  the  pass  at  the  head  of  Chilkoot  inlet.  This  arm  is, 
as  far  as  is  seen,  surrounded  by  high  mountains,  ap- 
parently much  higher  than  those  on  the  arm  we  traveled 
down.  Below  the  junction  of  the  two  arms  the  lake  is 
about  one  and  a  half  miles  wide,  with  deep  water.  Above 
the  forks  the  water  of  the  east  branch  is  muddy.  This  is 
caused  by  the  streams  from  the  numerous  glaciers  on 
the  head  of  the  tributaries  of  Lake  Lindeman. 

"A  stream  which  flows  into  Lake  Bennett  at  the  south- 
west corner  is  also  very  dirty,  and  has  shoaled  quite  a 
large  portion  of  the  lake  at  its  mouth.  The  beach  at 
the  lower  end  of  this  lake  is  comparatively  flat  and  the 
water  shoal.  A  deep,  wide  valley  extends  northwards 
from  the  north  end  of  the  lake,  apparently  reaching  to 
the  canyon,  or  a  short  distance  above  it.  This  may  have 
been  originally  a  course  for  the  waters  of  the  river.  The 
bottom  of  the  valley  is  wide  and  sandy,  and  covered  with 
scrubby  timber,  principally  poplar  and  pitch  pine.  The 
waters  of  the  lake  empty  at  the  extreme  northeast  angle 
through  a  channel  not  more  than  lOO  yards  wide,  which 
soon  expands  into  what  Schwatka  called  Lake  Nares 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  67 

(the  connecting  waters  between  Lake  Bennett  and  Tagish 
lake  constitute  what  is  now  called  Caribou  crossing). 
Through  this  narrow  channel  there  is  quite  a  current, 
and  more  than  seven  feet  of  water,  as  a  six-foot  paddle 
and  a  foot  of  arm  added  to  its  length  did  not  reach  the 
bottom. 

"The  hills  at  the  upper  end  of  Lake  Lindeman  rise 
abruptly  from  the  water's  edge.  At  the  lower  end  they 
are  neither  so  steep  nor  so  high.  Lake  Nares  is  only 
two  and  a  half  miles  long,  and  its  greatest  width  is  about 
a  mile;  it  is  not  deep,  but  is  navigable  for  boats  drawing 
five  or  six  feet  of  water;  it  is  separated  from  Lake  Ben- 
nett by  a  shallow,  sandy  point  of  not  more  than  200  yards 
in  length.  No  streams  of  any  consequence  empty  into 
either  of  these  lakes.  A  small  river  flows  into  Lake  Ben- 
nett on  the  west  side,  a  short  distance  north  of  the  fork, 
and  another  at  the  extreme  northwest  angle,  but  neither 
of  them  is  of  any  consequence  in  a  navigable  sense. 

"Lake  Nares  flows  through  a  narrow  curved  channel 
into  Bove  lake  (Schwatka).  This  channel  is  not  more 
than  600  or  700  yards  long,  and  the  water  in  it  appears 
to  be  sufficiently  deep  for  boats  that  could  navigate  the 
lake.  The  land  between  the  lakes  along  this  channel  is 
low,  swampy  and  covered  with  willows,  and  at  the  stage 
in  which  I  saw  it,  did  not  rise  more  than  three  feet  above 
the  water.  The  hills  on  the  southwest  side  slope  up 
easily,  and  are  not  high;  on  the  north  side  the  deep 
valley  already  referred  to  borders  it;  and  on  the  east 
side  the  mountains  rise  abruptly  from  the  lake  shore. 

"Bove  lake  (called  Tagish  lake  by  Dr.  Dawson)  is 
about  a  mile  wide  for  the  first  two  miles  of  its  length, 
when  it  is  joined  by  what  the  miners  have  called  Windy 
arm.  One  of  the  Tagish  Indians  informed  me  they 
called  it  Takone  lake.    Here  the  lake  expands  to  a  width 


68  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

of  about  two  miles  for  a  distance  of  some  three  miles, 
when  it  suddenly  narrows  to  about  half  a  mile  for  a  dis- 
tance of  a  little  over  a  mile,  after  which  it  widens  again 
to  about  a  mile  and  a  half  or  more. 

"Ten  miles  from  the  head  of  the  lake  it  is  joined  by 
the  Taku  arm  from  the  south.  This  arm  must  be  of  con- 
siderable length,  as  it  can  be  seen  for  a  long  distance, 
and  its  valley  can  be  traced  through  the  mountains  much 
farther  than  the  lake  itself  can  be  seen.  It  is  apparently 
over  a  mile  wide  at  its  mouth  or  junction. 

"Dr.  Dawson  includes  Bove  lake  and  these  two  arms 
under  the  common  name  of  Tagish  lake.  This  is  much 
more  simple  and  comprehensive  than  the  various  names 
given  them  by  travelers.  These  waters  collectively  are 
the  fishing  and  hunting  grounds  of  the  Tagish  Indians, 
and  as  they  are  really  one  body  of  water,  there  is  no  rea- 
son why  they  should  not  be  all  included  under  one 
name. 

"From  the  junction  with  the  Taku  arm  to  the  north 
end  of  the  lake  the  distance  is  about  six  miles,  the 
greater  part  being  over  two  miles  wide.  The  west  side 
is  very  fiat  and  shallow,  so  much  so  that  it  was  impos- 
sible in  many  places  to  get  our  canoes  to  the  shore,  and 
quite  a  distance  out  in  the  lake  there  was  not  more  than 
five  feet  of  water.  The  members  of  my  party  who  were 
in  charge  of  the  boat  and  outfit  went  down  the  east  side 
of  the  lake  and  reported  the  depth  about  the  same  as  I 
found  on  the  west  side,  with  many  large  rocks.  They 
passed  through  it  in  the  night  in  a  rain  storm,  and  were 
much  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the  boat  and  provisions. 
It  would  appear  that  this  part  of  the  lake  requires  some 
improvement  to  make  it  in  keeping  with  the  rest  of  the 
water  system  with  which  it  is  connected. 

"Where  the  river  debouches  from  it,  it  is  about  150 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  71 

yards  wide,  and  for  a  short  distance  not  more  than  five 
or  six  feet  deep.  The  depth  is,  however,  soon  increased 
to  ten  feet  or  more,  and  so  continues  down  to  what 
Schwatka  calls  Marsh  lake.  The  miners  call  it  Mud 
lake,  but  on  this  name  they  do  not  appear  to  be  agreed, 
many  of  them  calling  the  lower  part  of  the  Tagish  or 
Bove  lake  'Mud  lake,'  on  account  of  its  shallowness 
and  flat,  muddy  shores,  as  seen  along  the  west  side,  the 
side  nearly  always  traveled,  as  it  is  more  sheltered  from 
the  prevailing  southerly  winds.  The  term  'Mud  lake* 
is,  however,  not  applicable  to  this  lake,  as  only  a  com- 
paratively small  part  of  it  is  shallow  or  muddy;  and  it 
is  nearly  as  inapplicable  to  Marsh  lake,  as  the  latter  is 
not  markedly  muddy  along  the  west  side,  and  from  the 
appearance  of  the  east  shore  one  would  not  judge  it  to 
be  so,  as  the  banks  appear  to  be  high  and  gravelly. 

"Marsh  lake  is  a  little  over  nineteen  miles  long,  and 
averages  about  two  miles  in  width.  I  tried  to  determine 
the  width  of  it  as  I  went  along  with  my  survey,  by  taking 
azimuths  of  points  on  the  eastern  shore  from  different 
stations  of  the  survey;  but  in  only  one  case  did  I  succeed, 
as  there  were  no  prominent  marks  on  that  shore  which 
could  be  identified  from  more  than  one  place.  The 
piece  of  river  connecting  Tagish  and  Marsh  lakes  is 
about  five  miles  long,  and  averages  150  to  200  yards  in 
width,  and,  as  already  mentioned,  is  deep,  except  for  a 
short  distance  at  the  head.  On  it  are  situated  the  only 
Indian  houses  to  be  found  in  the  interior  with  any  pre- 
tention to  skill  in  construction. 

"The   Lewes   river,   where  it   leaves   Marsh  lake,   is 

about  200  yards  wide,  and  averages  this  width  as  far  as 

the  canyon.    I  did  not  try  to  find  bottom  anywhere  as  I 

'  went  along,  except  where  I  had  reason  to  think  it  shallow, 

and  there  I  always  tried  with  my  paddle.    I  did  not  any- 

4 


72  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

where  find  bottom  with  this,  which  shows  that  there  is 
no  part  of  this  stretch  of  the  river  with  less  than  six  feet 
of  water  at  medium  height,  at  which  stage  it  appeared 
to  me  the  river  was  at  that  time, 

"From  the  head  of  Lake  Bennett  to  the  canyon  the  cor- 
rected distance  is  ninety-five  miles,  all  of  which  is  navi- 
gable for  boats  drawing  five  feet  or  more.  Add  to  this 
the  westerly  ami  of  Lake  Bennett,  and  the  Takone  or 
Windy  arm  of  Takish  lake,  each  about  fifteen  miles  in 
length,  and  the  Taku  arm  of  the  latter  lake,  of  unknown 
length,  but  probably  not  less  than  thirty  miles,  and  we 
have  a  stretch  of  water  of  upwards  of  one  hundred  miles 
in  length,  all  easily  navigable;  and,  as  has  been  pointed 
out,  easily  connected  with  Taiya  inlet  through  the  White 
pass. 

"No  streams  of  any  importance  enter  any  of  these 
lakes  so  far  as  I  know.  A  river,  called  by  Schwatka 
'McClintock  river,'  enters  Marsh  lake  at  the  lower  end 
from  the  east.  It  occupies  a  large  valley,  as  seen  from 
the  westerly  side  of  the  lake,  but  the  stream  is  apparently 
unimportant.  Another  small  stream,  apparently  only  a 
creek,  enters  the  southeast  angle  of  the  lake.  It  is  not 
probable  that  any  stream  coming  from  the  east  side  of 
the  lake  is  of  importance,  as  the  strip  of  country  between 
the  Lewes  and  Teslintoo  is  not  more  than  thirty  or  forty 
miles  in  width  at  this  point. 

"The  Taku  arm  of  Tagish  lake  is,  so  far,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  reports  from  Indians,  unknown;  but  it  is  equal- 
ly improbable  that  any  river  of  importance  enters  it,  as 
it  is  so  near  the  source  of  the  waters  flowing  northwards. 
However,  this  is  a  question  that  can  only  be  decided  by 
a  proper  exploration.  The  canyon  I  have  already  de- 
scribed, and  will  only  add  that  it  is  five-eighths  of  a  mile 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  73 

long,  about  lOO  feet  wide,  with  perpendicular  banks  of 
basaltic  rock  from  60  to  100  feet  high. 

"Below  the  canyon  proper  there  is  a  stretch  of  rapids 
for  about  a  mile ;  then  about  half  a  mile  of  smooth  water, 
following  which  are  the  White  Horse  rapids,  which  are 
three-eighths  of  a  mile  long,  and  unsafe  for  boats.  The 
total  fall  in  the  canyon  and  succeeding  rapids  was  meas- 
ured and  found  to  be  32  feet.  Were  it  ever  necessary  to 
make  this  part  of  the  river  navigable  it  will  be  no  easy 
task  to  overcome  the  obstacles  at  this  point;  but  a  tram 
or  railway  could,  with  very  little  difficulty,  be  constructed 
along  the  east  side  of  the  river  past  the  canyon. 

"For  some  distance  below  the  White  Horse  rapids  the 
current  is  swift  and  the  river  wide,  with  many  gravel 
bars.  The  reach  between  these  rapids  and  Lake  Le  Barge, 
a  distance  of  twenty-seven  and  a  half  miles,  is  all 
smooth  water,  with  a  strong  current.  The  average  width 
is  about  150  yards.  There  is  no  impediment  to  naviga- 
tion other  than  the  swift  current,  and  this  is  no  stronger 
than  on  the  lower  part  of  the  river,  which  is  already  navi- 
gated; nor  is  it  worse  than  on  the  Saskatchewan  and 
Red  rivers  in  the  more  eastern  part  of  our  territory. 

"About  midway  in  this  stretch  the  Tahkeena  river  (the 
Tahkeena  was  formerly  much  used  by  the  Chilkat  In- 
dians as  a  means  of  reaching  the  interior,  but  never  by 
the  miners,  owing  to  the  distance  from  the  sea  to  its 
head)  joins  the  Lewes.  This  river  is,  apparently,  about 
half  the  size  of  the  latter.  Its  waters  are  muddy,  indicat- 
ing its  passage  through  a  clayey  district.  I  got  some 
indefinite  information  about  this  river  from  an  Indian 
v;ho  happened  to  meet  me  just  below  its  mouth,  but  I 
could  not  readily  make  him  understand  me,  and  his  re- 
plies were  a  compound  of  Chinook,  Tagish,  and  signs, 
and  therefore  largely  unintelligible.     From  what  I  could 


74  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

understand  with  any  certainty,  the  river  was  easy  to  de- 
scend, there  being  no  bad  rapids,  and  it  came  out  of  a 
lake  much  larger  than  any  I  had  yet  passed. 

"Lake  Le  Barge  is  thirty-one  miles  long.  In  the  upper 
thirteen  it  varies  from  three  to  four  miles  in  width;  it 
then  narrows  to  about  two  miles  for  a  distance  of  seven 
miles;  when  it  begins  to  widen  again,  and  gradually  ex- 
pands to  about  two  and  a  half  or  three  miles,  the  lower 
six  miles  of  it  maintaining  the  latter  width.  The  survey 
was  carried  along  the  western  shore,  and  while  so  en- 
gaged I  determined  the  width  of  the  upper  wide  part  by 
triangulation  at  two  points,  the  width  of  the  narrow  mid- 
dle part  at  three  points,  and  the  width  of  the  lower  part 
at  three  points.  Dr.  Dawson  on  his  way  out  made  a 
track  survey  of  the  eastern  shore.  The  western  shore 
is  irregular  in  many  places,  being  indented  by  large  bays, 
especially  at  the  upper  and  lower  ends.  These  bays  are, 
as  a  rule,  shallow,  more  especially  those  at  the  lower  end. 

"Just  above  where  the  lake  narrows  in  the  middle  there 
is  a  large  island.  It  is  three  and  a  half  miles  long  and 
about  half  a  mile  in  width.  It  is  shown  on  Schwatka's 
map  as  a  peninsula,  and  called  by  him  Ritchtofen  rocks. 
How  he  came  to  think  it  a  peninsula  I  cannot  understand, 
as  it  is  well  out  in  the  lake;  the  nearest  point  of  it  to  the 
western  shore  is  upwards  of  half  a  mile  distant,  and  the 
extreme  width  of  the  lake  here  is  not  more  than  five 
miles,  which  includes  the  depth  of  the  deepest  bays  on 
the  western  side.  It  is  therefore  difficult  to  understand 
that  he  did  not  see  it  as  an  island.  The  upper  half  of 
this  island  is  gravelly,  and  does  not  rise  very  high  above 
the  lake.  The  lower  end  is  rocky  and  high,  the  rock  be- 
ing of  a  bright  red  color.  At  the  lower  end  of  the  lake 
there  is  a  large  valley  extending  northward,  which  has 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  75 

evidently  at  one  time  been  the  outlet  of  the  lake.  Dr. 
Dawson  has  noted  it  and  its  peculiarities. 

"The  width  of  the  Lewes  river  as  it  leaves  the  lake  is 
the  same  as  at  its  entrance,  about  200  yards.  Its  waters 
when  I  was  there  were  murky.  This  is  caused  by  the 
action  of  the  waves  on  the  shore  along  the  lower  end  of 
the  lake.  The  water  at  the  upper  end  and  at  the  middle 
of  the  lake  is  quite  clear,  so  much  so  that  the  bottom 
can  be  distinctly  seen  at  a  depth  of  six  or  seven  feet. 
The  wind  blows  almost  constantly  down  this  lake,  and 
in  a  high  wind  it  gets  very  rough.  The  miners  complain 
of  much  detention  owing  to  this  cause,  and  certainly  I 
cannot  complain  of  a  lack  of  wind  while  I  was  on  the  lake. 
This  lake  was  named  after  one  Mike  Le  Barge,  who  was 
engaged  by  the  Western  Union  telegraph  company,  ex- 
ploring the  river  and  adjacent  country  for  the  purpose 
of  connecting  Europe  and  America  by  telegraph  through 
British  Columbia,  and  Alaska,  and  across  Bering  strait 
to  Asia,  and  thence  to  Europe. 

"After  leaving  Lake  Le  Barge  the  river,  for  a  distance 
of  about  five  miles,  preserves  a  generally  uniform  width 
and  an  easy  current  of  about  four  miles  per  hour.  It 
then  makes  a  short  turn  round  a  low  gravel  point,  and 
flows  in  exactly  the  opposite  of  its  general  course  for  a 
mile,  when  it  again  turns  sharply  to  its  general  direction. 

"The  Teslintoo  was  so  called  by  Dr.  Dawson — this, 
according  to  information  obtained  by  him,  being  the  In- 
dian name.  It  is  called  by  the  miners  'Hootalinkwa,' 
or  Hootalinqua,  and  was  called  by  Schwatka,  who  ap- 
pears to  have  bestowed  no  other  attention  to  it,  the  New- 
berry, although  it  is  apparently  much  larger  than  the 
Lewes.  (The  limited  amount  of  prospecting  that  has 
been  done  on  the  Teslintoo  is  said  to  be  very  satisfactory, 
fine  gold  having  been  found  in  all  parts  of  the  river.  The 


76  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

lack  of  supplies  is  the  great  drawback  to  its  development, 
and  this  will  not  be  overcome  to  any  great  extent  until 
by  some  means  heavy  freight  can  be  brought  over  the 
coast  range  to  the  head  of  the  river.  Indeed,  owing  to 
the  difficulties  attending  access  and  transportation,  the 
great  drawback  to  the  entire  Yukon  district  at  present 
is  the  want  of  heavy  mining  machinery  and  the  scarcity 
of  supplies.  The  government  being  aware  of  the  require- 
ments and  possibilities  of  the  country  has  undertaken  the 
task  of  making  preliminary  surveys  for  trails  and  rail- 
roads, and  no  doubt  in  the  near  future  the  avenue  for 
better  and  quicker  transportation  facilities  will  be  opened 
up.) 

"The  water  of  the  Teslintoo  is  of  a  dark  brown 
color,  similar  in  appearance  to  the  Ottawa  river  water, 
and  a  little  turbid.  Notwithstanding  the  difference  of 
volume  of  discharge,  the  Teslintoo  changes  completely 
the  character  of  the  river  below  the  junction,  and  a 
person  coming  up  the  river  would,  at  the  forks,  unhesi- 
tatingly pronounce  the  Teslintoo  the  main  stream.  The 
water  of  the  Lewes  is  blue  in  color,  and  at  the  time  I 
speak  of  was  somewhat  dirty — not  enough  so,  however, 
to  prevent  one  seeing  to  a  depth  of  two  or  three  feet. 

"At  the  junction  of  the  Lewes  and  Teslintoo  I  met  two 
or  three  families  of  the  Indians  who  hunt  in  the  vicinity. 
One  of  them  could  speak  a  little  Chinook.  He  told  me 
the  river  was  easy  to  ascend,  and  presented  the  same 
appearance  eight  days'  journey  up  as  at  the  mouth ;  then 
a  lake  was  reached,  which  took  one  day  to  cross,  the 
river  was  then  followed  again  for  half  a  day  to  another 
lake,  which  took  two  days  to  traverse;  into  this  lake 
emptied  a  stream  which  they  used  as  a  highway  to  the 
coast,  passing  by  way  of  the  Taku  river.  He  said  it 
took  four  days  when  they  had  loads  to  carry,  from  the 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  77 

head  of  canoe  navigation  on  the  Teshntoo  to  salt  water 
on  the  Taku  inlet,  but  when  they  come  light  they  take 
onl}^  one  to  two  days. 

"If  their  time  intervals  are  approximately  accurate, 
they  mean  that  there  are  about  200  miles  of  good  river 
to  the  first  lake,  as  they  ought  easily  to  make  25  miles 
a  day  on  the  river  as  I  saw  it.  The  lake  takes  one  day  to 
traverse,  and  is  at  least  25  miles  long,  followed  by  say  12 
of  river,  which  brings  us  to  the  large  lake,  which  takes 
two  days  to  cross,  say  50  or  60  miles  more — in  all  about 
292  miles — say  300  to  the  head  of  canoe  navigation; 
while  the  distance  from  the  head  of  Lake  Bennett  to  the 
junction  is  only  188.  Assuming  the  course  of  the  Tes- 
lintoo  to  be  nearly  south  (it  is  a  little  to  the  east  of  it), 
and  throwing  out  every  fourth  mile  for  bends,  the  re- 
mainder gives  us  an  arc  three  degrees  and  a  quarter  of 
latitude,  which  deducted  from  60°  40',  the  latitude  of  the 
junction,  gives  us  58°  25',  or  nearly  the  latitude  of  Ju- 
neau. 

"I  afterwards  met  T.  Boswell,  his  brother,  and  another 
miner,  who  had  spent  most  of  the  summer  on  the  river 
prospecting,  and  from  them  I  gathered  the  following: 
The  distance  to  the  first,  and  only  lake  they  saw,  they  put 
at  17s  miles,  and  the  lake  itself  they  call  at  least  150  miles 
long,  and  it  took  them  four  days  to  row  in  a  light  boat 
from  end  to  end.  The  portage  to  the  sea  they  did  not 
appear  to  know  anything  about,  but  describe  a  large  bay 
on  the  east  side  of  the  lake,  into  which  a  river  of  con- 
siderable size  entered.  This  river  occupies  a  wide  valley, 
surrounded  by  high  mountains.  They  thought  this  river 
must  head  near  Liard  river.  This  account  differs  ma- 
terially from  that  given  by  the  Indian,  and  to  put  them 
on  their  guard,  I  told  them  what  he  had  told  me,  but 
they  still  persisted  in  their  story,  which  I  find  differs  a 


78  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

good  deal  from  the  account  they  gave  Dr.  Dawson,  as 
incorporated  in  his  report. 

"Between  the  TesHntoo  and  the  Big  Salmon,  so  called 
by  the  miners,  or  D'Abbadie  by  Schwatka,  the  distance 
is  thirty-three  and  a  half  miles,  in  which  the  Lewes  pre- 
serves a  generally  uniform  width  and  current.  For  a 
few  miles  below  the  Teslintoo  it  is  a  little  over  the  or- 
dinary width,  but  then  contracts  to  about  200  yards, 
which  it  maintains  with  little  variation.  The  current  is 
generally  from  four  to  five  miles  per  hour.  The  Big  Sal- 
mon I  found  to  be  about  100  yards  wide  near  the  mouth, 
the  depth  not  more  than  four  or  five  feet,  and  the  current, 
so  far  as  could  be  seen,  sluggish. 

"Just  below  the  Big  Salmon  the  Lewes  takes  a  bend 
of  nearly  a  right  angle.  Its  course  from  the  junction 
with  the  Tehkeena  to  this  point  is  generally  a  little  east 
of  north;  at  this  point  it  turns  to  nearly  west  for  some 
distance.  Its  course  between  here  and  its  confluence  with 
the  Pelly  is  northwest,  and,  I  may  add,  it  preserves  this 
general  direction  down  to  the  confluence  with  the  Porcu- 
pine. Thirty-six  and  a  quarter  miles  below  the  Big  Sal- 
mon, the  Little  Salmon — the  Daly  of  Schwatka — enters 
the  Lewes.  This  river  is  about  sixty  yards  wide  at  the 
mouth,  and  not  more  than  two  or  three  feet  in  depth. 
The  water  is  clear  and  of  a  brownish  hue;  there  is  not 
much  current  at  the  mouth,  nor  as  far  as  can  be  seen  up 
the  stream.  It  is  said  that  some  miners  have  prospected 
this  stream,  but  I  could  learn  nothing  definite  about  it. 

"Lewes  river  makes  a  turn  here  to  the  southwest,  and 
runs  in  that  direction  six  miles,  when  it  again  turns  to  the 
northwest  for  seven  miles,  and  then  makes  a  short,  sharp 
turn  to  the  south  and  west  around  a  low,  sandy  point, 
which  will  at  some  day  in  the  near  future  be  cut  through 
by  the  current,  which  will  shorten  the  river  three  or  four 


YUKON    KIVER   AND   ITS    BRANCHES.   FROM    REPORT   OF   WILLIAM    OGILVIE, 
DOMINION   SURVEYOR. 


YUKON    RIVER    AND   ITS   BRANCHES.  FROM   REPORT  OF   WILLIAM   OGILVIE. 
DOMINION    SURVEYOR. 
This  is  a  continuatioQ  of  the  Map  ou  opposite  page. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  83 

miles.  Eight  miles  below  Little  Salmon  river  a  large 
rock  called  the  Eagle's  Nest,  stands  up  in  a  gravel  slope 
on  the  easterly  bank  of  the  river.  It  rises  about  five 
hundred  feet  above  the  river,  and  is  composed  of  a  light 
gray  stone.  Thirty-two  miles  below  Eagle's  Nest  rock 
Nordenskiold  river  enters  from  the  west.  It  is  an  unim- 
portant stream,  being  not  more  than  120  feet  wide  at  the 
mouth,  and  only  a  few  inches  deep.  The  valley,  as  far 
as  can  be  seen,  is  not  extensive,  and  being  very  crooked 
it  is  hard  to  tell  what  its  general  direction  is.  The  Lewes, 
between  the  Little  Salmon  and  the  Nordenskiold,  con- 
tains a  width  of  from  200  to  300  yards,  with  an  occasional 
expansion  where  there  are  islands.  It  is  serpentine  in  its 
course  most  of  the  way,  and  where  the  Nordenskiold  joins 
it  is  very  crooked,  running  several  times  under  a  hill, 
named  by  Schwatka  Tantalus  Butte,  and  in  other  places 
leaving  it,  for  a  distance  of  eight  miles.  The  distance 
across  from  point  to  point  is  only  half  a  mile. 

"Below  this  to  Five  Finger  rapids,  so  called  from  the 
fact  that  five  large  masses  of  rock  stand  in  mid-channel, 
the  river  assumes  its  ordinary  straightness  and  width, 
with  a  current  from  four  to  five  miles  per  hour.  I  do 
not  think  the  rapids  will  prove  anything  more  than  a 
slight  obstruction  in  the  navigation  of  the  river.  A  boat 
of  ordinary  power  would  probably  have  to  help  herself 
up  with  windlass  and  line  in  high  water.  Below  the 
rapids,  for  about  two  miles,  the  current  is  strong — prob- 
ably six  miles  per  hour — but  the  water  seems  to  be  deep 
enough  for  any  boat  that  is  likely  to  navigate  it.  Six 
miles  below  this  the  Rink  rapids  are  situated.  They  are 
of  no  great  importance,  the  westerly  half  of  the  stream 
only  being  obstructed.  The  easterly  half  is  not  in  any 
way  alTected,  the  current  being  smooth  and  the  water 
deep. 


84  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

"Below  Five  Finger  rapids  about  two  miles  a  small 
stream  enters  from  the  east.  It  is  called  by  Dr.  Daw^son 
Tatshun  river.  It  is  not  more  than  thirty  or  forty  feet 
wide  at  the  mouth,  and  contains  only  a  little  brownish 
water.  Between  Five  Finger  rapids  and  Felly  river,  58^ 
miles,  no  streams  of  any  importance  enter  the  Lewes ;  in 
fact,  with  the  exception  of  the  Tatshun,  it  may  be  said 
that  none  at  all  enter.  About  a  mile  below  Rink  rapids 
the  river  spreads  out  into  a  lake-like  expanse,  with  many 
islands;  this  continues  for  about  three  miles,  when  it 
contracts  to  something  like  the  usual  width;  but  bars 
and  small  islands  are  very  numerous  all  the  way  to  Pelly 
river.  About  five  miles  above  Pelly  river  there  is  another 
lake-like  expanse  filled  with  islands.  The  river  here  for 
three  or  four  miles  is  nearly  a  mile  wide,  and  so  numerous 
and  close  are  the  islands  that  it  is  impossible  to  tell,  when 
floating  among  them,  where  the  shores  of  the  river  are. 
The  current,  too,  is  swift,  leaving  one  to  suppose  the 
water  shallow;  but  I  think  even  here  a  channel  deep 
enough  for  such  boats  as  will  navigate  this  part  of  the 
river  can  be  found.  Schwatka  named  this  group  of  is- 
lands Tngersoll  Islands.' 

"About  a  mile  below  the  Pelly  the  Lewes  is  about  half 
a  mile  wide,  and  here,  too,  there  are  many  islands,  but 
not  in  groups  as  at  Ingersoll  islands.  About  a  mile  be- 
low the  Pelly,  just  at  the  ruins  of  Fort  Selkirk,  the  Yukon 
was  found  to  be  565  yards  wide;  about  two-thirds  being 
ten  feet  deep,  with  a  current  of  about  four  and  three-quar- 
ters miles  per  hour;  the  remaining  third  was  more  than 
half  taken  up  by  a  bar,  and  the  current  between  it  and 
the  south  shore  was  very  slack.  Pelly  river  at  its  mouth 
is  about  200  yards  wide,  and  continues  this  width  as  far 
up  as  could  be  seen. 

"lust  here  for  a  short  distance  the  course  of  the  Yukon 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  85 

is  nearly  west,  and  on  the  south  side,  about  a  mile  below 
the  mouth  of  the  Lewes,  stands  all  that  remains  of  the 
only  trading  post  ever  built  by  white  men  in  the  district. 
This  post  was  established  by  Robert  Campbell,  for  the 
Hudson  Bay  company  in  the  summer  of  1848.  Indians 
pillaged  the  place  and  set  fire  to  it,  leaving  nothing  but 
the  remains  of  the  two  chimneys,  which  are  still  stand- 
ing. This  raid  and  capture  took  place  on  the  first  of  Au- 
gust, 1852.  Below  Fort  Selkirk  the  Yukon  river  is  from 
500  to  600  yards  broad  and  maintains  this  width  down 
to  White  river,  a  distance  of  ninety-six  miles.  Islands  are 
numerous,  so  much  so  that  there  are  very  few  parts  of 
the  river  where  there  are  not  one  or  more  in  sight.  Bars 
are  also  numerous,  but  almost  all  are  composed  of 
gravel,  so  that  navigators  will  not  have  to  complain  of 
shifting  sand-bars.  The  current,  as  a  general  thing,  is 
not  so  rapid  as  in  the  vipper  part  of  the  river,  averaging 
about  four  miles  per  hour.  Tlie  depth  in  the  main  chan- 
nel was  always  found  to  be  more  than  six  feet. 

"From  Pelly  river  to  within  12  miles  of  White  river 
the  general  course  of  the  river  is  a  little  north  of  west; 
it  then  turns  to  the  north,  and  the  general  course  as  far 
as  the  site  of  Fort  Reliance  is  due  north.  White  river 
enters  the  main  river  from  the  west.  At  the  mouth  it  is 
about  200  yards  wide,  but  a  great  part  of  it  is  filled  with 
ever-shifting  sand-bars,  the  main  volume  of  water  being 
confined  to  a  channel  not  more  than  100  yards  in  width. 
The  current  is  very  strong,  certainly  not  less  than  eight 
miles  per  hour.  The  color  of  the  water  bears  witness  to 
this,  as  it  is  much  the  muddiest  of  any  I  have  ever  seen. 
Between  White  and  Stewart  rivers,  ten  miles,  the  river 
spreads  out  to  a  mile  and  upwards  in  width,  and  is  a  maze 
of  islands  and  bars.  The  survey  was  carried  down  the 
easterly  shore  and  many  of  the  channels  passed  through 


86  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

barely  afforded  water  enough  to  float  the  canoes.  The 
main  channel  is  along  the  westerly  shore,  down  which 
the  large  boat  went,  and  the  crew  reported  plenty  of 
water. 

Stewart  river  enters  from  the  east  in  the  middle  of 
a  wide  valley,  with  low  hills  on  both  sides,  rising  on 
the  north  side  in  steps  or  terraces  to  distant  hills  of 
considerable  height.  The  river  half  a  mile  or  so  above 
the  mouth,  is  200  yards  in  width.  The  current  is  slack 
and  the  water  shallow  and  clear,  but  dark  colored.  While 
at  the  mouth  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  meet  a  miner 
who  had  spent  the  whole  summer  of  1887  on  the  river 
and  its  branches  prospecting  and  exploring.  He  gave 
me  a  good  deal  of  information,  of  which  I  give  a  sum- 
mary. He  is  a  native  of  New  Brunswick,  Alexander 
MacDonald  by  name,  and  has  spent  some  years  mining 
in  other  places,  but  was  very  reticent  about  what  he 
had  made  or  found.  Sixty  or  seventy  miles  up  the 
Stewart  a  large  creek  enters  from  the  south  which  he 
called  Rosebud  creek  or  river,  and  thirty  or  forty  miles 
farther  up  a  considerable  stream  flows  from  the  north- 
east, which  appears  to  be  Beaver  river,  as  marked  on  the 
map  of  that  part  of  the  country. 

"From  the  head  of  this  stream  he  floated  down  on  a 
raft,  taking  five  days  to  do  so.  He  estimated  his  progress 
at  forty  or  fifty  miles  each  day,  which  gives  a  length 
of  from  200  to  250  miles.  This  is  probably  an  over- 
estimate, unless  the  stream  is  very  crooked,  which,  he 
stated,  was  not  the  case.  As  much  of  his  time  would  be 
taken  up  in  prospecting  I  should  call  thirty  miles  or  less 
a  closer  estimate  of  his  progress.  This  river  is  from 
fifty  to  eighty  yards  wide  and  was  never  more  than  four 
or  five  feet  deep,  often  being  not  more  than  two  or  three; 
the  current,  he  said,  was  not  at  all  swift.     Above  the 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  87 

mouth  of  this  stream  the  main  river  is  from  loo  to  130 
yards  wide,  with  an  even  current  and  clear  water.  Sixty 
or  seventy  miles  above  the  last-mentioned  branch  an- 
other branch  joins,  which  is  possibly  the  main  river. 
At  the  head  of  it  he  found  a  lake  nearly  thirty  miles  long 
and  averaging  a  mile  and  a  half  in  width,  which  he 
called  Mayhew  lake. 

"Thirty  miles  or  so  above  the  forks  on  the  other 
branch  there  are  falls,  which  MacDonald  estimated  to 
be  from  100  to  200  feet  in  height.  MacDonald  went  on 
past  the  falls  to  the  head  of  this  branch  and  found  ter- 
raced gravel  hills  to  the  west  and  north.  He  crossed 
them  to  the  north  and  found  a  river  flowing  north- 
ward. On  this  he  embarked  on  a  raft  and  floated  down 
it  for  a  day  or  two,  thinking  it  would  turn  to  the  west  and 
join  the  Stewart,  but  finding  it  still  continuing  north, 
and  requiring  too  much  volume  to  be  any  of  the  branches 
he  had  seen  while  passing  up  the  Stewart,  he  returned 
to  the  point  of  his  departure,  and  after  prospecting 
among  the  hills  around  the  head  of  the  river,  he  started 
westward,  crossing  a  high  range  of  mountains  com- 
posed principally  of  shales,  with  many  thin  seams  of 
what  he  called  quartz,  ranging  from  one  to  six  inches  in 
thickness.  On  the  west  side  of  this  range  he  found  a 
river  flowing  out  of  what  he  called  Mayhew  lake,  and 
crossing  this  got  to  the  head  of  Beaver  river,  which  he 
descended  as  before  mentioned.  It  is  probable  the 
river  flowing  northwards,  on  which  he  made  a  journey 
and  returned,  was  a  branch  of  Peel  river.  Judging  from 
all  I  could  learn  it  is  probable  a  light  draft  steamboat 
could  navigate  nearly  all  of  Stewart  river  and  its  tribu- 
taries. 

"From  Stewart  river  to  the  site  of  Fort  Reliance,  sev- 
enty-three and  one-quarter  miles,  the  Yukon  is  broad 


88  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

and  full  of  islands.  The  average  width  is  between  a  half 
and  three-quarters  of  a  mile,  but  there  are  many  expan- 
sions where  it  is  over  a  mile  in  breadth;  however,  in 
these  places  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  waterway  is  wider 
than  at  other  parts  of  the  river,  the  islands  being  so  large 
and  numerous.  In  this  reach  no  streams  of  any  impor- 
tance enter.  About  thirteen  miles  below  Stewart  river 
a  large  valley  joins  that  of  the  river,  but  the  stream  occu- 
pying it  is  only  a  large  creek.  This  agrees  in  position 
with  what  has  been  called  Sixty  Mile  creek,  which  was 
supposed  to  be  about  that  distance  above  Fort  Reli- 
ance, but  it  does  not  agree  with  descriptions  which  I  re- 
ceived of  it;  moreover  as  Sixty  Mile  creek  is  known  to 
be  a  stream  of  considerable  length  this  stream  would 
not  answer  the  description. 

"Twenty-two  and  a  half  miles  from  Stewart  river  an- 
other and  larger  creek  enters  from  the  same  side;  it 
agreed  with  the  description  of  Sixty  Mile  creek  and  I 
have  so  marked  it  on  my  map.  This  stream  is  of  no 
importance  except  for  what  mineral  wealth  may  be  found 
on  it.  Six  and  a  half  miles  above  Fort  Reliance  the 
Thron-Diuck  river  of  the  Indians  (Deer  river  of  Schwat- 
ka,  the  Klondike)  enters  from  the  east.  It  is  a  small 
river,  about  forty  yards  wide  at  the  mouth,  and  shal- 
low; the  water  is  clear  and  transparent,  and  of  beautiful 
blue  color.  Dawson  City  is  situated  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Thron-Diuck,  and  although  it  was  located  only  a 
few  months  ago  it  is  the  scene  of  great  activity.  Very 
rich  deposits  of  gold  have  lately  been  found  on  Bonanza 
creek  and  other  affluents  of  the  Thron-Diuck. 

"Twelve  and  a  half  miles  below  Fort  Reliance,  the 
Chandindu,  as  named  by  Schwatka,  enters  from  the  east. 
It  is  thirty  to  forty  yards  wide  at  the  mouth,  very  shal- 
low, and  for  half  a  mile  up  is  one  continuous  rapid.    Be- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  89 

tween  Fort  Reliance  and  Forty  Mile  river  (called  Cone 
Hill  river  by  Schwatka)  the  Yukon  assumes  its  normal 
appearance,  having  fewer  islands  and  being  narrowed, 
averaging  four  to  six  hundred  yards  wide,  and  the  cur- 
rent being  more  regular.  This  stretch  is  forty-six  miles 
long,  but  was  estimated  by  the  traders  as  forty,  from 
which  the  Forty  Mile  river  took  its  name. 

"Forty  Mile  town  site  is  situated  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Forty  Mile  river  at  its  junction  with  the  Yukon. 
The  Alaska  Commercial  company  has  a  station  here 
which  was  for  many  years  in  charge  of  L.  N.  McQues- 
tion;  there  are  also  several  blacksmith  shops,  restau- 
rants, billiard  halls,  bakeries,  opera-house,  and  so  on. 
Rather  more  than  half  a  mile  below  Forty  Mile  town 
site  the  town  of  Cudahy  was  founded  on  the  north  side  of 
Forty  Mile  river  in  the  summer  of  1892.  It  is  named 
after  a  well-known  member  of  the  North  American 
Transportation  and  Trading  company.  The  company 
has  erected  a  saw  mill  and  some  large  warehouses.  Fort 
Constantine  was  established  here  inmiediately  upon  the 
arrival  of  the  mounted  police  detachment  in  the  latter 
part  of  July,  1895. 

"Forty  ]\Iile  river  joins  the  main  river  from  the  west. 
Its  general  course,  as  far  up  as  the  international  boun- 
dary line,  a  distance  of  twenty-three  miles,  is  southwest; 
after  this  it  runs  nearer  south.  Forty  Mile  river  is  100 
to  150  yards  wide  at  the  mouth,  and  the  current  is  gen- 
erally strong,  with  many  small  rapids.  Eight  miles  up 
is  the  so-called  canyon;  it  is  hardly  entitled  to  that  dis- 
tinctive name,  being  simply  a  crooked  contraction  of  the 
river  with  steep  rocky  banks,  and  on  the  north  side  there 
is  plenty  of  room  to  walk  along  the  beach.  The  length 
of  this  canyon  is  about  a  mile.  Above  it  the  river  up  to 
the  boundary  line  is  generally  smooth,  with  swift  cur- 


90  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

rent  and  an  occasional  ripple.  The  amount  of  water 
discharged  by  this  river  is  considerable;  but  there  is  no 
prospect  of  navigation,  it  being  so  swift  and  broken  by 
many  small  rapids. 

"From  Forty  Mile  river  to  the  boundary  line  the 
Yukon  preserves  the  same  general  character  as  between 
Fort  Reliance  and  Forty  Mile;  the  greatest  width  being 
about  half  a  mile  and  the  least  about  a  quarter.  Fifteen 
miles  below  Forty  Mile  river  a  large  mass  of  rock  stands 
on  the  east  bank.  This  was  named  by  Schwatka  'Ro- 
quette  Rock,'  but  it  is  known  to  the  traders  as  'Old 
Woman  Rock;'  a  similar  mass,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river,  being  known  as  'Old  Man  Rock.' 

"From  Stewart  river  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon  is 
about  1,650  miles,  and  the  only  difificult  place  in  all  this 
distance  is  the  part  near  the  confluence  with  the  Porcu- 
pine, which  has  evidently  been  a  lake  in  past  ages,  but 
is  now  filled  with  islands;  the  current  here  is  swift  and 
the  channels  generally  narrow,  rendering  navigation  diffi- 
cult." 

Approximate  distances  to  Fort  Cudahy,  compiled  by 
William  Ogilvie,  land  surveyor  of  the  Dominion  of 
Canada: 

Via  St.  Michael. 

Miles. 

San  Francisco  to  Dutch  Harbor ^,400 

Seattle  or  Victoria  to  Dutch  Harbor 2,000 

Dutch  Harbor  to  St.  Michael 750 

St.  Michael  to  Cudahy 1,600 

Via  Taiya  (Dyea)  Pass. 

Victoria  to  Taiya  (Dyea) 1,000 

Taiya  to  Cudahy 650 


WORK   AT   NIGHT. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  JJ3 

Via  Stikine  (Stikeen)  River. 

Victoria  to  Wrangel 750 

Wrangel  to  Telegraph  creek 150 

Telegraph  creek  to  Teslin  lake 150 

Teslin  lake  to  Cudahy 650 

Distances  from  Head  of  Taiya  Inlet. 

Head  of  canoe  navigation,  Taiya  river 5.90 

Forks  of  Taiya  river 8.38 

Summit  of  Taiya  pass 14-76 

Landing  at  Lake  Lindeman 23.06 

Foot  of  Lake  Lindeman 27.49 

Head  of  Lake  Bennett 28.09 

Boundary  line  B.  C.  and  N.  W.  T.  (Lat.  60°) 38.09 

Foot  of  Lake  Bennett 53.85 

Foot  of  Caribou  crossing  (Lake  Nares) 56.44 

Foot  of  Tagish  lake 73-25 

Head  of  Marsh  lake 78.15 

Foot  of  Marsh  lake 97-21 

Head  of  canyon 122.94 

Foot  of  canyon 123.56 

Head  of  White  Horse  rapids 124.95 

Foot  of  White  Horse  rapids 125.33 

Talikerna  river  139-92 

Head  of  Lake  LeBarge i53-07 

Foot  of  Lake  LeBarge 184.22 

Teslintoo  river 215.88 

Big  Salmon  river 285.54 

Five  Finger  rapids 344-83 

Pelly  river 403-29 

White  river 499-1 1 

Stewart  river 508.91 

Sixty-Mile  creek 530.41 

Dawson  City 575-70 

Fort   Reliance   582.20 

Forty-Mile  river 627.08 

Boundary  line  667.43 


di 


THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 


CHAPTER    V. 
CAPITAL  REQUIRED  BY  GOLD-SEEKERS. 

ANY  i\IEN  have  been  fired  with  an 
eager  desire  to  go  to  the  Klondike 
regions  because  the  gold  in  that  coun- 
try is  found  in  the  "poor  man's  mine," 
that  is,  in  placer  deposits.  Placer 
mines  are  called  "tenderfoot  mines" 
and  "poor  man's"  mines  because  they 
are  worked  with  comparatively  inex- 
pensive appliances  which  can  be  carried  around  by  the 
prospector.  With  a  pick,  shovel  and  pan  alone  the  pros- 
pector is  able  to  extract  the  gold  from  the  pay  dirt.  The 
stories  that  have  come  down  from  the  upper  Yukon 
basin  indicate  that  the  mines  on  the  El  Dorado,  Bonanza 
and  other  gold-bearing  creeks  of  the  Klondike  are,  in  all 
respects,  "poor  men's  mine."  But  although  the  mines 
themselves  are  open  to  every  man  who  has  a  pair  of 
strong  arms,  a  pick,  a  shovel  and  a  pan,  something  more 
than  determination  and  a  pair  of  legs  is  required  to  get 
to  the  mines  from  any  place  in  the  United  States.  The 
way  is  long  and  transportation  charges  are  heavy. 

All  sorts  of  estimates  have  been  made  as  to  the  amount 
of  ready  cash  a  man  must  have  to  buy  his  outfit  and  pay 
his  passage  to  the  Klondike  country.  Men  "who  have 
been  there"  insist  that  a  gold-seeker  is  a  fool  to  start  out 
from  civilization  without  enough  money  in  his  pocket 
to  give  him  at  least  a  working  capital  of  $300  when  he 
arrives  at  the  diggings.  Others  put  the  figure  at  $500. 
The  majority  of  returned  Klondikers  say  that  the  pros- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  *  95 

pector  must  figure  on  at  least  two  years'  work  in  the  gold 
fields,  and  must  make  all  preparations  looking  to  the 
possibility  of  utter  failure;  that  is,  he  must  have  enough 
money,  not  only  to  buy  his  outfit  and  provide  for  trans- 
portation, but  to  pay  his  living  expenses  in  the  gold 
country  for  at  least  two  years,  and  have  enough  money 
left  to  buy  a  "return  ticket."  There  is  this  to  comfort 
the  gold-seeker,  however.  All  authorities  agree  in  the 
prediction  that  the  men  who  go  north  in  the  spring  of 
1898  not  only  will  have  a  much  easier  road  to  travel, 
but  will  not  be  faced  with  the  probability  of  privations 
and  suffering  due  to  a  lack  of  food  and  clothing  in  the 
storehouses  of  trading  companies. 

The  monopoly  held  by  the  two  large  transportation 
companies  which  operate  on  the  Yukon  river  from  St. 
Michael  to  the  head  of  navigation  has  been  broken.  In- 
dependent companies  have  been  formed  for  the  purpose 
of  competing  for  the  business  of  handling  passengers  and 
freight  on  the  Yukon  and  other  navigable  rivers  of  Alas- 
ka and  the  Northwest  territory.  This  means  that  the  cost 
of  transportation  per  passenger  will  be  reduced,  and  that 
the  river  steamers  will  carry  freight  for  prospectors  and 
miners,  and  that  a  larger  stock  of  provisions  and  goods 
of  all  kinds  needed  in  that  country  will  be  carried  at  all 
times. 

The  fare  from  Seattle  to  any  point  on  the  Yukon  river 
was  $200  this  year  (1897).  This  included  200  pounds  of 
baggage,  meals  and  berth,  but  did  not  include  the  trans- 
portation of  anything  over  200  pounds  per  passenger. 
The  company  making  this  rate  is  in  the  trading  as  well 
as  the  transportation  business,  and  wanted  to  sell  the 
gold-seekers  their  outfits  and  stocks  of  provisions  from 
tlie  company's  storehouses  at  Circle  City  and  other  places 
along  the  Yukon.     In  a  circular  issued  by  this  company 


96  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

the  prc5spector  was  advised  to  have  at  least  $500  capital 
upon  arrival  at  his  destination,  and  to  make  his  plans  to 
stay  one  year  at  least.  This  price  of  $200  carried  the 
gold-seeker  from  Seattle  to  St.  Michael  and  up  the  Yukon 
river  to  Dawson  City. 

One  of  the  independent  companies  which  is  advertised 
to  start  into  the  Yukon  district  next  spring  announces 
that  for  $600  it  will  take  a  man  from  Seattle  or  San  Fran- 
cisco to  Dawson  City  or  any  other  mining  center  in  the 
Yukon  district  and  keep  him  in  food  for  one  year.  The 
$600,  however,  after  the  prospector  once  arrives  on  the 
ground,  does  not  include  cooking  nor  shelter  after  reach- 
ing the  Yukon.  In  short,  the  man  who  intends  to  take 
the  all-water  route,  that  is,  from  San  Francisco  or  Seattle 
or  Victoria,  B.  C,  up  the  Yukon  by  way  of  St.  Michael, 
must  be  prepared  to  pay  $200  to  $250  for  transportation 
of  himself  and  200  pounds  of  baggage,  and  to  spend 
anywhere  from  $250  to  $500  for  his  outfit  and  his  stock 
of  provisions  and  yet  have  at  least  $300  for  a  "rainy  day" 
capital.  In  other  words,  in  order  to  get  to  the  "poor 
man's  mines"  the  gold-seeker  should  have  an  available 
capital  of  from  $750  to  $1,000.  It  is  believed  that  $700 
is  the  least  amount  that  a  man  can  start  out  with,  and  the 
amount  may  run  as  high  up  as  the  pocket-book  will 
stand. 

A  San  Francisco  steamship  company  advertises  that  it 
will  carry  passengers  from  San  Francisco  to  the  Klon- 
dike by  way  of  St.  Michael  and  the  Yukon  river  for  $300, 
including  150  pounds  of  baggage,  and  will  also  carry  ex- 
tra supplies  not  exceeding  1,000  pounds  a  passenger  for 
10  cents  a  pound. 

The  price  of  an  outfit  in  Dawson  City,  Circle  City,  and 
Fort  Cudahy  and  Forty  Mile  is  given  all  the  way  from 
$500  to  $1,000.     This  includes  a  year's  supply  of  food 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  97 

and  clothing  and  prospecting  and  mining  outfit,  and  is 
based  on  an  advance  of  three  times  the  cost  of  a  Hke  out- 
fit in  Seattle.  The  lowest  estimate  given  on  an  outfit 
was  $90,  in  Seattle.  This  only  included  enough  provis- 
ions to  get  a  man  to  Dawson  City  by  the  overland  route. 
The  cost  of  outfits,  as  made  up  in  Chicago,  Seattle,  San 
Francisco  and  other  points  in  the  United  States,  includ- 
ing clothing,  groceries,  hardware,  armament  and  camp- 
ing outfit,  ranges  from  $185  to  $275;  to  this,  however, 
must  be  added  the  duty  charged  by  the  Canadian  authori- 
ties, the  average  of  which  is  nearly  25  per  cent,  so  that 
25  per  cent  should  be  added  to  the  cost  of  an  outfit.  (See 
chapter  on  gold-seekers'  outfit.) 

The  overland,  or  the  Chilkoot  pass,  route  by  way  of 
Dyea  is  the  one  that  w-as  taken  by  the  greatest  number 
of  gold-seekers  this  year,  because  they  were  able  to  carry 
a  large  amount  of  provisions  (which  they  were  not  per- 
mitted to  take  with  them  on  the  Yukon  river  route),  and 
because  they  were  told  that  bv  taking  this  overland  route 
they  could  get  to  Dawson  City  inside  of  30  days.  The 
steamer  passage  from  Seattle  for  Juneau  and  Dyea  cost, 
to  Juneau  $25  per  cabin  and  $15  for  steerage;  to  Dyea 
$40  cabin,  $25  steerage.  The  fare  included  berth  and 
meals  and  free  baggage  to  the  amount  of  150  pounds. 
Excess  baggage  was  carried  for  10  cents  a  pound,  and 
freight  for  $10  a  ton. 

This  was  the  cheapest  of  the  transportation  charges 
from  Seattle  to  Dyea  made  during  the  rush.  The  demand 
made  on  the  steamship  companies  by  excited  gold-seek- 
ers sent  tickets  way  above  par,  and  premiums  of  $100 
v>^ere  paid.  None  of  the  steamship  companies  will  give 
an  advance  notice  of  their  rates  of  fare  for  next  spring, 
but  as  every  boat  that  would  sail  or  float  was  pressed  into 
service  this  year,  it  is  probable  that  many  good  boats  will 


98  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

be  put  into  commission  next  spring,  and  competition  will 
hold  rates  level.  It  is  estimated  that  nearly  6,000  people 
went  from  the  Pacific  seaports  to  Dyea  during  the  rush, 
and  the  boats  were  overcrowded.  This  naturally  brought 
an  increase  in  all  charges. 

It  is  announced  that  some  of  the  steamship  companies 
are  making  arrangements  to  transport  baggage  and  out- 
fits ovier  the  Chilkoot  pass  to  the  head  of  Lake  Lindeman. 
If  this  is  done  the  cost  of  portage  over  the  pass  to  the 
head  of  navigation  of  the  Yukon  will  be  much  less  next 
spring  than  it  was  this  year.  All  sorts  of  prices  were 
demanded  by  the  Indians  and  packers,  for  they  had  the 
gold-seekers  at  their  mercy. 

Under  date  of  July  30,  William  J,  Jones,  a  special  cor- 
respondent of  the  CHICAGO  RECORD,  writing  from 
Juneau,  said  that  the  rate  over  the  Dyea  route,  under 
normal  conditions,  was  $17  a  100  pounds,  but  that  it  was 
certain  to  be  advanced  to  30  or  40  cents  a  pound  in  a  week 
or  two,  and  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  Indians 
and  packers  to  take  care  of  the  rush.  This  prediction  was 
verified  before  ten  days  by  the  reports  that  came  back 
from  Dyea.  Several  thousand  gold-seekers  were  held  at 
Dyea  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  cross  the  pass  with 
their  outfits  and  stocks  of  provisions,  and  portage  prices 
had  gone  up  almost  "out  of  sight." 

If  this  rush  is  repeated  next  spring  the  gold-seekers 
must  be  prepared  to  go  down  into  their  pockets  to  pay 
big  premiums  for  carrying  their  outfits  over  the  several 
passes  to  Lake  Lindeman.  Undoubtedly  pack  horses  and 
mules  will  be  substituted  in  a  large  measure  for  Indians 
next  year,  and  numerous  plans  are  on  foot  to  improve 
the  trail.  The  cost  of  the  journey  from  Lake  Lindeman 
to  the  gold  diggings  is  generally  regarded  as  an  unknown 
quantity.    Many  men  will  carry  and  haul  their  provisions 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  99 

themselves,  building  rafts  and  boats  to  go  down  the  river. 
Others,  better  provided  with  ready  cash,  will  buy  boats 
at  Lake  Lindeman  or  will  take  boats  with  them  from 
Seattle  or  San  Francisco,  and  will  employ  Indians  to 
manage  the  boats  and  act  as  guides,  cooks  and  general 
roustabouts. 

It  is  claimed  that  miners  can  go  from  Chicago  to  the 
Klondike  by  way  of  the  "back  door"  route,  that  is,  up 
the  Athabasca  and  Mackenzie  rivers  to  the  Peel  river 
and  then  across  the  divide  into  the  Yukon  country,  for 
$150.  A.  H.  H.  Heming,  of  Montreal,  the  artist  who 
accompanied  Caspar  Whitney  in  his  trip  to  the  "Barren 
Land,"  says,  on  the  authority  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  com- 
pany officials,  that  all  that  is  needed  for  the  "back  door" 
route  are  a  good  constitution,  some  experience  in  boat- 
ing and  camping,  and  about  $150.  Mr.  Heming  advises 
gold-seekers  to  travel  in  parties  of  three,  and  to  purchase 
a  good  canoe  for  about  $35  in  Chicago  or  St.  Paul.  The 
freight  on  the  canoe  to  Edmonton,  the  end  of  the  railroad 
route,  will  be  $23;  cost  of  food  at  Edmonton  for  three 
men  for  two  months,  consisting  of  pork,  flour,  tea  and 
baking  powder,  $35 ;  total  for  three  men  from  Chicago  to 
Fort  McPherson,  provided  they  travel  second-class  on 
the  Canadian  Pacific  railroad,  will  be  $152.45  a  man. 

Thus  if  three  men  "chip  in"  $200  each  they  would  have 
a  margin  of  over  $140  for  purchasing  tools  and  for  trans- 
portation from  Fort  McPherson  to  the  Klondike.  Parties 
should  consist  of  three  men  each,  as  this  is  the  crew  of  a 
canoe  on  the  Mackenzie  river.  It  will  take  600  pounds 
of  food  to  carry  three  men  over  the  route,  and  passengers 
on  the  Canadian  Pacific  railroad  are  entitled  to  carry 
600  pounds  of  baggage.  The  tourist  sleeper  from  St. 
Paul  to  Calgary,  the  point  on  the  Canadian  Pacific  where 
the  spur  leads  to  Edmonton,  will  cost  $4. 


100  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

Although  any  local  ticket  agent  can  give  the  railroad 
rates  to  the  Pacific  coast  points,  the  following  list  is  given 
as  a  suggestion  for  the  purpose  of  including  everything 
in  the  estimate  of  cost  to  go  from  "home"  to  the  Klon- 
dike country.  The  railroad  rates  from  principal  points 
are  as  follows: 

New  England  points,  practically  the  same  as  Boston 
rates  (get  difiference  between  Boston  and  New  England 
points  from  local  agents);  Boston  to  San  Francisco — 
first-class,  $92;  second-class,  $79;  sleepers,  $20.50;  tour- 
ist car,  $8;  meals  in  dining  car  or  at  stations  according  to 
route;  baggage  allowed,  150  pounds;  excess  baggage, 
$11  per  100  pounds;  time  from  Boston  to  San  Francisco, 
5  days  and  nights. 

Boston  to  Seattle,  Portland,  Vancouver  and  Victoria, 
B.  C. — first-class,  $83.50;  second-class,  $69.75;  sleeper, 
$21;  tourist  car,  $7.50;  meals  in  dining  car  or  at  stations 
according  to  route;  baggage  allowed,  150  pounds;  ex- 
cess baggage,  $10.50  to  $11.50  per  100  pounds. 

Note:  The  above  rates  are  over  the  standard  or  first- 
class  lines  to  Chicago.  If  a  differential  or  second-class 
road  is  taken  the  first-class  fare  will  be  $3  less  than  given 
above,  and  second-class  fare  $2. 

New  York  to  San  Francisco — first-class,  $82.50;  sec- 
ond-class, $72.50;  sleeper,  $25.50;  tourist  car,  $11.  Meals 
in  dining  car  or  at  stations,  according  to  route;  baggage 
allowed,  150  pounds;  excess  baggage,  $11  per  100 
pounds;  time  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  5  days 
and  5  nights. 

New  York  to  Seattle,  Portland,  Vancouver  and  Vic- 
toria, B.  C. — first-class,  $81.50;  second-class,  $69.75; 
sleeper,  $20.50;  tourist  car,  $10;  meals  in  dining  car  or 
at  stations,  according  to  route;  baggage  allowed,  150 
pounds;  excess  baggage,  $10.50  to  $11  per  100  pounds. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  103 

Time  from  New  York  to  Seattle  and  Portland,  99  hours; 
Vancouver,  105  hours;  Victoria,  iii  hours. 

Note:  Above  fares  are  on  first-class  lines  to  Chicago. 
If  second-class  road  is  taken,  first-class  fare  will  be  $3 
less  and  second-class  fare  $2  less  than  the  above  rates. 

Buffalo  to  San  Francisco — first-class,  ^y6;  second- 
class,  $62.50;  sleeper,  $18;  tourist  car,  $8;  meals  in  bag- 
gage car  or  in  stations,  according  to  route;  baggage  al- 
lowed, 150  pounds;  excess  baggage,  $10.35  P^'''  ^^^ 
pounds.  Time  from  Buffalo  to  San  Francisco,  4^  days 
and  4  nights, 

Buffalo  to  Seattle,  Portland,  Vancouver  and  Victoria, 
B.  C. — first-class,  $75;  second-class,  $62;  sleeper,  $18; 
tourist  car,  $8;  meals  in  dining  car  or  at  stations,  accord- 
ing to  route;  baggage  allowed,  150  pounds;  excess  bag- 
gage, $10.35  per  100  pounds.  Time  from  Buffalo  to  Se- 
attle, Portland,  Vancouver  and  Victoria,  B.  C,  from  5 
to  6  days  and  nights. 

Chicago  to  San  Francisco — first-class,  $62.50;  second- 
class,  $52.50;  sleeper,  $20.50;  tourist  sleeper,  $8;  meals 
in  dining  car  or  at  stations,  according  to  route  from  $1 
to  50  cents  each;  baggage  allowed,  150  pounds;  excess 
baggage,  $8.70  per  100  pounds.  Time  from  Chicago  to 
San  Francisco,  4  days  and  4  nights, 

Chicago  to  Seattle,  Portland,  Vancouver  and  Victoria, 
B,  C. — first-class,  $61.50;  second-class,  $51,50;  sleeper, 
$15.50;  tourist,  $7;  meals  in  dining  car  or  at  stations, 
according  to  route;  baggage  allowed,  150  pounds;  excess 
baggage,  $8.60  per  100  pounds.  Time  from  Chicago  to 
Seattle  and  Portland,  85  hours;  Vancouver,  91  hours; 
Victoria,  97  hours. 

Omaha  to  San  Francisco — first-class,  $50;  second- 
class,  $40;  sleeper,  $13;  tourist  car,  $5;  meals  in  dining 
car  or  at  stations,  according  to  route;  baggage  allowed. 


104  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

150  pounds;  excess  baggage,  $7.20  per  100  pounds.  Time 
from  Omaha  to  San  Francisco,  4  days  and  3  nights. 

Omaha  to  Seattle,  Portland,  Vancouver  and  Victoria, 
B.  C. — first-class,  $50;  second-class,  $40;  sleeper,  $13; 
tourist  car,  $5 ;  meals  in  dining  car  or  at  stations,  accord- 
ing to  route,  average  75  cents  each;  baggage  allowed,  150 
pounds;  excess  baggage,  $7.20  per  100  pounds.  Time 
from  Omaha  to  Seattle  and  Portland,  65  hours;  Van- 
couver, 71  hours;  Victoria,  yy  hours. 

Denver  to  San  Francisco — first-class,  $45;  second- 
class,  $35;  sleeper,  $11;  tourist  car,  $4;  meals  in  dining 
car  or  at  stations,  according  to  routes,  average  75  cents 
each;  baggage  allowed,  150  pounds;  excess  baggage, 
$6.60  per  100  pounds.  Time  from  Denver  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, 3  days  and  2  nights. 

Denver  to  Seattle,  Portland,  Vancouver  and  Victoria, 
B.  C. — first-class,  $45;  second-class,  $35;  sleeper,  $11; 
tourist  car,  $4;  meals  in  dining  car  or  at  stations,  accord- 
ing to  route,  average  75  cents  each;  baggage  allowed,  150 
pounds;  excess  baggage,  $6.60  per  100  pounds.  Time 
from  Denver  to  Seattle  and  Portland,  64  hours;  Van- 
couver, 70  hours ;  Victoria,  76  hours. 

jMinneapolis  and  St.  Paul  to  San  Francisco — first-class, 
$57.90;  second-class,  $47.90;  sleeper,  $13.50;  tourist  car, 
$5 ;  meals  in  dining  car  or  at  stations,  according  to  route; 
baggage  allowed,  150  pounds;  excess  baggage,  $7.20  per 
100  pounds.  Time  from  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  to 
San  Francisco,  4  days  and  3  nights. 

Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  to  Seattle,  Portland,  Van- 
couver and  Victoria,  B.  C. — first-class,  $50;  second-class, 
$40;  sleeper,  $13.50;  tourist  car,  $5;  meals  in  dining  car 
or  at  stations,  according  to  route;  baggage  allowed,  150 
pounds;  excess  baggage,  $7.20  per  hundred  pounds. 
Time  from  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  to  Seattle  and  Port- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  105 

land,  63  hours ;  Vancouver,  69  hours ;  Victoria,  75  hours. 

NcAv  Orleans  to  San  Francisco — first-class,  $57.50; 
second-class,  $47.50;  sleeper,  $13;  tourist  sleeper,  $5; 
meals  at  stations,  75  cents  each;  excess  baggage,  $8.10 
per  100  pounds.  Time  from  New  Orleans  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, 4  days  and  4  nights. 

New  Orleans  to  Seattle  and  Portland — first-class, 
$70.30;  second-class,  $52.50;  sleeper,  $18;  tourist  sleep- 
er, $6.50;  meals  in  station,  75  cents;  excess  baggage, 
$10.30  per  hundred  pounds.  Time,  5  days  and  5  nights. 
The  fare  from  New  Orleans  to  Victoria,  B.  C. — first-class, 
$74.80;  second-class,  $55.50;  excess  baggage,  $10.85  P^^ 
100  pounds;  sleepers  and  so  forth,  same  as  to  Seattle. 

For  purposes  of  getting  up  an  estimate  of  the  expense 
of  railroad  fare,  the  following  rates  are  added: 

To  San  Francisco  from  Baltimore  and  Washington — 
first-class,  $78.50;  second-class,  $55;  from  Louisville, 
first-class,  $64.10;  second-class,  $54.10;  from  Memphis, 
first-class,  $57.50;  second-class,  $47.50;  from  Nashville, 
first-class,  $60.35;  second-class,  $50.35;  from  Atlanta, 
first-class,  $63.35 ;  second-class,  $53.35;  from  Charleston, 
first-class,  $73.75;  second-class,  $63.75;  from  Philadel- 
phia, first-class,  $90.25;  no  second-class;  from  Pittsburg, 
first-class,  $73.25 ;  second-class,  $61 ;  from  Cincinnati, 
first-class,  $66.50;  second-class,  $56.50. 

To  Seattle  and  Portland  from  Washington  and  Balti- 
more— first-class,  $78.50;  second-class,  $65;  from  Louis- 
ville, first-class,  $65.50;  second-class,  $55.50;  from  Mem- 
phis, first-class,  $62;  second-class,  $52;  from  Nashville, 
first-class,  $67;  second-class,  $54;  from  Atlanta,  first- 
class,  $74.50;  second-class,  $60;  from  Charleston,  first- 
class,  $77.50;  second-class,  $67.50;  from  Philadelphia, 
first-class,  $79.75;   second-class,  $67.25;   from  Pittsburg, 


106  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

first-class,  $73.25 ;  second-class,  $61 ;  from  Cincinnati, 
first-class,  $66.50;  second-class,  $56.50. 

Passengers  from  Baltimore  and  Washington  cannot 
get  tourists'  sleepers  until  they  reach  Chicago  or  St. 
Louis. 

By  the  "back  door"  route  gold-seekers  will  leave  Chi- 
cago and  go  to  St.  Paul  on  any  of  the  Chicago  and  St. 
Paul  lines,  and  at  St.  Paul  take  the  Canadian  Pacific  for 
Edmonton;  first-class  fare  from  Chicago  to  Edmonton, 
$63.75;  second-class,  $59.45.  Tourist  sleeper  from  St. 
Paul,  $4. 

No  one  should  venture  to  set  out  for  the  Alaska  dig- 
gings without  a  "pardner."  The  word  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  partner.  Partner  has  a  smart,  business-like 
sound.  It  is  precisely  defined  by  law,  and  though  it  may 
by  courtesy  involve  something  of  special  favor,  its  equi- 
ties at  last  rest  upon  the  decisions  of  courts  without  re- 
gard to  sentiment.  But  a  "pardner"  glories  in  sentiment. 
He  expects  to  give  his  m.ate  all  that  the  law  requires  and 
call  that  only  a  beginning.  Men  may  be  chums  in  easy, 
prosperous  times,  says  the  St.  Louis  Globe-Dem- 
ocrat, but  it  is  not  until  they  pass  together  through 
a  succession  of  dangers  and  hardships  that  they 
can  become  "pardners."  Congeniality  and  implicit  confi- 
dence are  at  the  base  of  a  "pardnership;"  and  for  better 
or  for  worse  the  two  men  stand  as  one  under  all  vicissi- 
tudes, doubling  each  other's  joys  and  dividing  sorrows 
and  failures.  If  one  falls  by  the  way  the  other  gives  him 
more  than  the  devotion  of  a  brother. 

Gold  mining  eventually  is  a  business  conducted  by 
large  capital,  but  placer  diggings  afiford  an  opening  to 
any  one  who  can  stake  and  work  a  claim.  The  two  "pard- 
ners" begin  operations  on  the  ground  floor,  share  their 
discoveries,  tent  together,  and  cook  for  each  other.  Their 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  107 

qualities  and  traits  are  complimentary.  "Pardners"  are 
closer  than  messmates  in  the  army  or  navy.  The  soldier 
or  sailor  is  under  the  care  of  a  bountiful  provider.  His 
food,  clothes  and  shelter  are  furnished  by  the  govern- 
ment, and  his  comings  and  goings  are  regulated  by 
orders.  "Pardners,"  on  the  other  hand,  must  skirmish 
together  from  the  start  for  subsistence  and  plans  of  oper- 
ation. They  fight  the  battle  of  life  for  two  under  hazard- 
ous conditions,  far  from  families  and  friends,  satisfied, 
for  the  time  being,  with  bare  necessities.  Under  such 
a  test  "pardners"  are  forged  as  steel  is  forged. 

The  literature  of  California  is  full  of  the  "pardner" 
atmosphere.  Bret  Harte's  tales  would  be  tame  without 
it.  But  "pardners"  in  that  state,  except  as  gray-beard 
survivors,  are  scarce  now.  They  will  be  revived  in 
Alaska,  and  experience  far  greater  trials  than  they  ever 
knew  in  the  first  Pacific  commonwealth.  Freezing  and 
starvation  were  unknown  in  California.  It  is  not  likely 
that  the  mining  camps  in  Alaska  will  permit  any  one  to 
starve,  but  they  have  a  regulation  for  shipping  those  lack- 
ing means  or  resources  out  of  the  country.  In  a  com- 
munity of  "pardners"  a  high  sense  of  general  humanity 
wdll  prevail,  but  there  must  be  prudence  as  to  feeding 
drones  during  the  long  season  when  the  lines  of  supply 
are  interrupted.  Alaska  will  furnish  a  great  growth  of 
friendship,  with  the  "pardner"  as  its  top  flower.  No  man 
can  utterly  fail  there  who  has  a  good  "pardner,"  and  is 
one.  Among  the  glaciers  and  the  frozen  moss,  where  a 
blossom  has  never  opened  to  the  light,  the  lines  of  Holmes 
will  take  on  a  new  beauty,  teaching  that  "friendship  is 
the  breathing  rose  that  sweets  in  every  fold." 


108 


THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HINTS  FOR  PROSPECTORS  AND 
MINERS. 

LONDIKE    GOLD   is   found   all    ihe 
way  through  a  frozen  deposit  of  sand, 
/X     /^i    V-"^     gravel  and  earth  from  twenty  to  twen- 
"^  ^  ty-five  feet  thick,  resting  on  bed  rock. 

This  bed  rock  is  said  to  be  shale;  depth 
unknown.  A  claim  on  El  Dorado 
creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Klondike, 
which  paid  its  owner  very  handsome- 
ly, is  80  feet  from  rimrock  to  rimrock, 
with  a  frontage  of  500  feet  on  the  creek.  After  going 
through  the  soil  and  muck  on  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
a  bed  of  gravel  mixed  with  sand  sixteen  feet  thick  is 
found.  This  rests  upon  a  four-foot  bed  of  fine  and  coarse 
gravel,  which  in  turn  rests  on  a  stratum  of  fine  gravel  a 
foot  and  a  half  thick  which  tops  a  stratum,  one  and  one- 
half  feet  of  fine  black  sand. 

This  black  sand  rests  on  bed  rock,  and  is  the  "pay 
dirt"  of  the  Klondike.  The  16-foot  bed  of  gravel  mixed 
with  sand  paid  the  miner  from  50  cents  to  $2  a  pan;  the 
4-foot  bed  of  coarse  gravel  paid  him  from  $2  to  $5  a  pan. 
The  stratum  of  fine  gravel  beneath  paid  $1.25  a  pan,  and 
pay  dirt  yielded  all  the  way  from  $5  to  $50  a  ton.  The 
ground  above  bed  rock  is  frozen,  making  it  necessary 
to  resort  to  "firing"  to  soften  the  gravel  and  sand  so  chat 
it  can  be  lifted  to  the  top.  This  is  the  character  of  the 
placer  mines  of  the  Klondike. 

But  it  is  reported  that  every  paying  claim  on  the  Klon- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  lOa 

dike  is  taken.  This  means  that  many  men  who  intend  to 
go  to  the  gold  country  in  the  far  north  in  the  spring  of 
1898  must  "prospect''  other  places.  The  following  pages 
are  intended  as  a  simple  guide  to  "tenderfeet,"  or  as  they 
are  called  in  the  Klondike  country  "chechacos."  Ex- 
perienced prospectors  and  miners  have  little  use  for 
guides  of  any  kind,  but  there  are  thousands  of  men  who 
will  see  gold  in  the  dirt  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives 
when  they  see  it  in  Alaska  or  the  Northwest  territories. 

In  prospecting  a  country  for  mineral,  two  men  can  do 
better  than  one.  A  "pardner"  is  a  great  help  to  an  ex- 
perienced miner  even  though  the  "pardner"  himself 
doesn't  know  the  difference  between  gold  dust  and  iron 
pyrites — the  "fool's  gold."  To  a  "tenderfoot,"  a  "pard- 
ner"  is  absolutely  necessary,  even  though  the  "pardner" 
himself  is  another  "tenderfoot,''  for  two  men  are  better 
than  one  under  almost  any  combination  of  circumstances. 

Gold  found  in  placer  mines  is  free  or  native  gold 
brought  down  from  the  "mother  lode"  by  the  action  of 
running  water  or  by  the  glaciers,  which  ages  ago  passed 
over  the  land.  For  this  reason,  in  prospecting  a  country 
for  mineral  wealth,  the  sands  and  rocks  of  river  beds, 
in  dry  creeks  and  gulches,  and  at  the  bottom  of  valleys 
should  be  searched  and  examined  systematically  and 
carefully. 

The  prospector  should  observe  the  characteristics  of 
loose  rocks,  found  in  ravines  and  gulches;  in  eddies  or 
dry  water  holes  where  heavy  matter  is  left  during 
freshets,  which  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  a  moun- 
tainous country;  for  holes,  channels  and  fissures  in  solid 
rock,  over  which  a  stream  runs  or  has  run. 

If  the  bed  of  a  river  flowing  through  an  open  country, 
yields  fine  gold  dust,  it  will  probably  yield  larger  dust  or 
grains  nearer  the  mountains  or  hills  from  which  it  flows; 


110  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

if  the  bed  of  this  river  yields  grains  of  gold,  the  tributar- 
ies near  the  source  probably  will  yield  nuggets,  for  the 
heavy  particles  will  sink  and  be  caught  in  the  beds  of 
streams  and  rivers  first.  Sometimes  the  richest  deposits 
are  found  where  the  current  has  been  broken  by  a  change 
of  descent  or  direction. 

In  a  stream  which  is  known  to  be  gold  bearing  the 
prospector  will  do  well  to  take  notice  of  abrupt  turns.  If 
one  side  of  the  stream  is  a  cliff  and  the  other  a  gentle 
slope  the  latter  may  be  found  to  be  rich  in  gold  deposits. 
Sometimes  where  there  are  several  bends  with  slopes  op- 
posite clififs,  the  slopes  will  likely  give  up  gold. 

The  end  of  a  mountain  chain  offers  a  likely  site  for  al- 
luvial diggings. 

When  alluvial  ground  is  made  up  with  rather  loose 
gravel,  mixed  with  boulders  or  lumps  of  rock,  the  gold, 
with  other  heavy  substances,  will  be  found  underneath 
the  bulk  of  the  coarse  deposits,  either  next  to  or  near  b^^d 
rock,  or  mixed  with  clay.  Thus  it  is  wise  to  examine  the 
earthy  matter  just  over  the  bed  rock.  If  clay  is  likely  to 
contain  gold  it  should  be  washed  carefully. 

If  the  flow  of  water  in  a  stream  hinders  digging  op- 
eration, "back  trenches"  should  be  cut  so  that  the  water 
may  flow  through  them,  thus  diverting  the  stream  from 
the  site  of  operation.  This  will  lay  the  bed  bare  and  the 
prospectors  can  easily  remove  large  rocks  or  boulders 
looking  for  nuggets  and  wash  the  finer  gravel  with  run- 
ning water. 

To  detect  free  or  native  gold  in  rock,  sand  or  gravel,  the 
samples  should  be  examined  by  means  of  a  magnifying 
glass  if  the  eye  is  insufficient.  The  particles  of  gold,  if 
present,  in  the  free  state  generally  will  be  distinct  enough 
whether  wet  or  dry  to  be  distinguished  from  discolored 
mica,  iron  or  copper  pyrites. 


NORTHWEST   MOUNTED   POLICE. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  113 

In  whatever  direction  it  is  looked  at  gold  presents  the 
same  color,  and  this  is  a  guiding  test  to  the  prospector. 

A  gold  grain  picked  out  from  a  rock  or  selected  from 
sand  or  gravel  can  be  flattened  out  by  a  hammer,  and  can 
be  cut  in  slices. 

Those  materials  most  likely  to  be  mistaken  for  gold  are 
reduced  to  powder  when  pounded. 

Iron  pyrites  is  too  hard  to  be  cut  with  a  knife;  copper 
pyrites  when  pounded  makes  a  greenish  powder. 

Pyrites  ore  when  heated,  smells  of  sulphur. 

Mica  when  discolored,  is  frequently  mistaken  for  gold 
when  discovered  by  the  "tenderfoot;"  but  it  is  not  easily 
cut  and  has  a  colorless  streak  and  can  thus  be  easily  dis- 
tinguished from  gold. 

It  is  much  easier  to  distinguish  pure  or  metallic  gold  in 
alluvial  deposits  than  it  is  to  certainly  recognize  it  in  rock. 
Gold  frequently  occurs  as  a  fine  powder,  which  even  the 
magnifying  glass  will  be  unable  to  distinguish,  and  also 
the  grains,  because  of  the  presence  of  sulphur  or  arsenic, 
may  be  coated  with  a  film  which  makes  them  unrecogniz- 
able to  the  eye;  even  making  the  gold  incapable  of  amal- 
gamation with  mercury  until  the  material  has  been 
roasted  or  put  through  some  process.  The  prospector 
in  the  Yukon  district,  however,  will  have  little  trouble  in 
recognizing  gold  when  he  sees  it,  for  it  appears  that  the 
gold  is  large  grained  and  easily  distinguished. 

In  addition  to  his  "grub  pack,"  the  prospector  must 
provide  himself  with  the  few  appliances  necessary  to 
wash  out  the  gold.  He  should  have  a  shovel,  hammer, 
pick  and  pan  or  horn  spoon.  The  pan  and  horn  spoon, 
and  method  of  using  them,  are  described  hereafter.  The 
hammer  is  used  when  prospecting  for  mineral  veins  or 
deposits  other  than  alluvial. 

The  presence  of  free  gold  in  alluvial  deposits,  that  is 


114  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

in  matter  washed  or  carried  down  from  his/her  ground, 
does  not  necessarily  mean  that  auriferous  lodes  (gold 
bearing  rock  or  cjuartz)  are  in  the  immediate  vicinity, 
but  the  chances  are  in  favor  of  lodes  being  found  on  ele- 
vations of  land  near  the  alluvial  deposit. 

It  would  be  well,  then,  for  the  prospector  who  has 
found  a  "placer  mine,"  to  examine  neighboring  eleva- 
tions. 

In  searching  for  mineral  veins,  the  general  geological 
features  of  the  country  should  be  studied.  If  any  roads 
are  cut  through,  it  would  be  well  to  study  the  character 
of  the  exposed  sections.  Sides  of  valleys,  landslides, 
cliffs  and  sections  cut  through  by  water  afford  means  to 
determine  the  character  of  the  stratification. 

If  the  prospector  finds  stones  or  gravel  in  a  valley 
which  he  believes  are  "likely"  to  go  v/ith  gold,  he  should 
follow  up  the  valley,  gulch  or  river  bed  until  he  no  longei 
finds  such  stones.  Then  he  should  search  the  hill  sides 
for  the  mother  lode. 

Common  sense  is  a  good  guide  for  a  prospector,  and 
when  common  sense  suggests  that  "drifts"  would  form 
naturally,  he  may  come  across  "out  crops"  in  the  steep 
sides  of  gulleys  and  on  ridges. 

An  examination  of  the  loose  or  "float"  rocks  on  the 
sides  of  a  hill  or  elevation  often  will  enable  the  prospector 
to  make  a  good  "guess"  of  the  nature  of  an  underground 
lode.  The  prospector  then,  in  climbing  hills,  should  look 
"all  ways"  for  signs  of  veins,  constantly  keeping  an  out- 
look for  the  kind  of  rock  which  is  known  to  form  the 
matrix  (mineral  associated  with  ore  in  a  lode)  of  a  min- 
eral vein. 

The  matrices  chiefly  are  quartz,  fluor  spar  and  calc 
spar;  chiefly  quartz. 

Quartz,  at  or  near  the  surface  of  a  lode,  often  is  a 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  115 

stained  brown,  yellow,  purple,  or  other  color,  due  to 
decomposed  iron  or  copper  pyrites,  and  frequently  is 
honey-combed.  Quartz  scratches  glass,  but  is  not 
scratched  by  a  file  or  knife  blade.  It  is  nearly  pure 
silica. 

Fluor  spar  is.  purple,  at  times  yellow,  white,  green  or 
blue.  It  is  soft.  When  heated  in  a  dark  place  it  gives 
out  a  phosphorescent  glow. 

Calc  spar  is  transparent  or  translucent.  It  effervesces 
when  acted  on  by  an  acid. 

As  quartz  is  nearly  always  the  matrix  of  mineral  veins, 
the  prospector  should  look  for  it. 

Gold  bearing  quartz  which  has  broken  away  from  the 
lode,  is  generally  honey-combed,  and  as  gold  withstands 
weather,  the  yellow  specks  may  be  seen  in  the  cells  once 
filled  with  iron  or  copper  pyrites,  which  have  been 
"washed  out"  in  the  course  of  years  of  exposure  to  the 
elements,  leaving  nothing  behind  but  stains. 

One  of  the  best  "surface"  indications  of  a  gold  bearing 
lode,  is  honey-combed  rock,  brown  with  iron  oxide. 

Having  traced  the  brown  stained,  honey-combed  rock 
up  the  hill  to  the  rock  from  which  it  was  broken,  the 
prospector  should  dig  a  trench  at  right  angles,  if  possible, 
to  the  lode,  that  he  may  examine  its  character;  the  nature 
of  the  vein ;  the  non-metallic  rock  material  in  the  lode ;  to 
find  the  upper  or  hanging  wall,  and  the  lower  or  foot- 
wall,  and  to  ascertain  the  direction  or  "strike"  of  the 
lode. 

He  also  should  sink  a  "prospecting"  shaft  a  few  feet  be- 
low the  bottom  of  his  trench,  to  be  certain  of  the  inclina- 
tion of  the  lode. 

The  probable  direction  of  the  lode  ascertained,  the 
prospector  can  sink  other  shafts  higher  up  or  lower  down 


116  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

on  the  hill,  or  the  other  side  of  the  valley,  to  test  the 
cojitinuity  of  the  vein. 

If  it  is  possible  to  take  specimens  of  the  ore  to  an  assay 
office,  it  is  best  to  do  so,  as  much  labor  might  be  wasted 
on  low  grade  ore  which,  to  the  eye,  looks  promising. 

But  in  out-of-the-way  places,  it  is  difficult  to  find 
assayers.  It  is  possible,  however,  for  the  prospector  to 
fnid,  with  approximate  certainty,  the  value  of  his  find  if 
the  metal  in  the  ore  is  free  gold. 

Hammer  a  quantity  of  the  ore  with  water,  until  the  ore 
is  reduced  to  powder,  add  mercury  to  the  powder; 
about  one  ounce  of  mercury  to  eight  pounds  of  ore.  If 
possible  add  a  little  cyanide  of  potassium.  Grind  the 
whole  mass  until  the  gold  and  mercury  form  an  amal- 
gam. Then  pour  in  some  water,  and  when  the  amalgam 
has  settled  to  the  bottom,  pour  off  the  lighter  material, 
collect  the  amalgam,  and  squeeze  it  through  a  buckskin 
or  canvas  bag.  Place  the  rnass  left  in  the  bag  on  a  shovel 
and  hold  the  shovel  over  a  fire.  The  heat  will  drive  the 
mercury  out,  leaving  the  gold  behind;  then  the  prospector 
can  "guess"  the  value  of  his  find. 

Having  found  his  gold  mine,  placer  or  lode,  and  being 
satisfied  that  it  is  worth  holding  and  working,  the  pros- 
pector should  "locate"  and  "file"  his  claim. 

If  the  "find"  is  on  Canadian  soil,  he  must  proceed  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  and  regulations  laid  down  by  the 
Canadian  authorities.  (See  Canadian  mining  laws  in  this 
book.) 

If  the  placer  or  lode  is  in  Alaska,  the  regulations  of  the 
United  States  land  office  department  must  be  observed. 
These  regulations  are  based  on  the  United  States 
"mineral  laws."  (See  United  States  mining  laws  in  this 
book.)     The  process  is  as  follows: 

A  correct  survey  of  the  claim  must  be  made  under 


BOOK  FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  117 

authority  of  the  survey-general  of  the  state  or  territory 
in  which  the  claim  lies. 

The  survey  must  show  with  accuracy  the  exterior 
boundaries  of  the  claim. 

Boundaries  must  be  distinctly  marked  by  monuments 
on  the  ground. 

Four  plats  and  one  copy  of  the  original  field  notes,  in 
each  case,  will  be  prepared  by  the  surveyor-general;  one 
plat  and  the  original  field  notes,  to  be  retained  in  tlie 
office  of  the  surveyor-general ;  one  copy  of  the  plat  to  be 
given  the  claimant  for  posting  upon  the  claim,  one  plat 
and  a  copy  of  the  field  notes  to  be  given  the  claimant  for 
filing  with  the  proper  register,  to  be  finally  transmitted  by 
that  ofificer,  with  other  papers  in  the  case,  to  this  office, 
and  one  plat  to  be  sent  by  the  surveyor-general  to  the 
register  of  the  proper  land  district  to  be  retained  on  his 
files  for  future  reference. 

The  claimant  must  post  a  copy  of  the  plat  of  the  survey 
in  a  conspicuous  place  upon  the  claim,  together  with 
notice  of  his  intention  to  apply  for  a  patent. 

This  notice  must  give  the  date  of  posting,  the  name  of 
the  claimant,  the  name  of  the  claim,  mine,  or  lode;  the 
mining  district  and  county;  whether  the  location  is  of 
record,  and,  if  so,  where  the  record  may  be  found;  the 
number  of  feet  claimed  along  the  vein,  and  the  presumed 
direction  thereof;  the  number  of  feet  claimed  on  the  lode 
in  each  direction  from  the  point  of  discovery,  or  other 
well-defined  place  on  the  claim ;  the  name  or  names  of  ad- 
joining claimants  on  the  same  or  other  lodes ;  or,  if  none 
adjoin,  the  names  of  the  nearest  claims,  etc. 

After  posting  the  plat  and  notice  upon  the  premises, 
the  claimant  must  file  with  the  proper  register  and  re- 
ceiver a  copy  of  such  plat,  and  the  field  notes  of  survey  of 
the  claim,  accompanied  by  the  affidavit  of  at  least  two 


U8  THE   CHICAGO  RECORD'S 

credible  witnesses,  that  such  plat  and  notice  are  posted 
conspicuously  upon  the  claim,  giving  the  date  and  place 
of  such  posting;  a  copy  of  the  notice  so  posted  to  be  at- 
tached to,  and  form  a  part  of  the  affidavit. 

Accompanying  the  field  notes  so  filed  must  be  the 
sworn  statement  of  the  claimant,  that  he  has  the  posses- 
sory right  to  the  premises  therein  described,  in  virtue  of 
a  compliance  by  himself  (and  by  his  grantors,  if  he  claims 
by  purchase)  with  the  mining  rules,  regulations,  and  cus- 
toms of  the  mining  district,  state  or  territory  in  which  the 
claim  lies,  and  with  the  mining  laws  of  congress;  such 
sworn  statement  to  narrate  briefly,  but  as  clearly  as 
possible,  the  facts  constituting  such  compliance,  the 
origin  of  his  possession,  and  the  basis  of  his  claim  to  a 
patent. 

This  af^davit  should  be  supported  by  appropriate  evi- 
dence from  the  mining  recorder's  office  as  to  his  posses- 
sory right,  as  follows,  viz.:  Where  he  claims  to  be  the 
locator,  or  a  locator  in  company  with  others  who  have 
since  conveyed  their  interest  in  the  location  to  him,  a  full, 
true,  and  correct  copy  of  such  location  should  be  fur- 
nished, as  the  same  appears  upon  the  mining  records; 
such  copy  to  be  attested  by  the  seal  of  the  recorder,  or  if 
he  has  no  seal,  then  he  should  make  oath  to  the  same  be- 
ing correct,  as  shown  by  his  records.  Where  the  appli- 
cant claims  only  as  a  purchaser  for  valuable  considera- 
tion, a  copy  of  the  location  record  must  be  filed  under 
seal  or  upon  oath  as  aforesaid,  with  an  abstract  of  title 
from  the  proper  recorder,  under  seal  or  oath  as  aforesaid, 
brought  down  as  near  as  practicable  to  date  of  filing  the 
application,  tracing  the  right  of  possession  by  a  continu- 
ous chain  of  conveyances  from  the  original  locators  to  the 
applicant,  also  certifying  that  no  conveyances  affecting 
the  title  to  the  claim  in  question  appear  of  record  in  his 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  119 

office  other  than  those  set  forth  in  the  accompanying  ab- 
stract. 

In  the  event  of  the  mining  records  in  any  case  having 
been  destroyed  by  fire  or  otherwise  lost,  affidavit  of  the 
fact  should  be  made,  and  secondary  evidence  of  posses- 
sory title  will  be  received,  which  may  consist  of  tlie 
affidavit  of  the  claimant,  supported  by  those  of  any  other 
parties  cognizant  of  the  facts  relative  to  his  location,  oc- 
cupancy, possession,  improvement,  etc.;  and  in  such  case 
of  lost  records,  any  deeds,  certificates  of  location  or  pur- 
chase, or  other  evidence  which  may  be  in  the  claimant's 
possession  and  tend  to  establish  his  claim,  should  be  filed. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  these  papers  the  register  will,  at 
the  expense  of  the  claimant  (who  must  furnish  the  agree- 
ment of  the  publisher  to  hold  applicant  for  patent  alone 
responsible  for  charges  of  publication),  publish  a  notice 
of  such  application  for  the  period  of  sixty  days  in  a  news- 
paper published  nearest  to  the  claim,  and  will  post  a  copy 
of  such  notice  in  his  office  for  the  same  period.  When  a 
notice  is  published  in  a  weekly  newspaper  ten  consecutive 
insertions  are  necessary;  when  in  a  daily  newspaper  the 
notice  must  appear  in  each  issue  for  sixty-one  consecu- 
tive issues,  the  first  day  of  issue  being  excluded  in  esti- 
mating the  period  of  sixty  days. 

The  notices  so  published  and  posted  must  be  as  full 
and  complete  as  possible,  and  embrace  all  the  data  given 
in  the  notice  posted  upon  the  claim. 

Too  much  care  cannot  be  exercised  in  the  preparation 
of  these  notices,  inasmuch  as  upon  their  accuracy  and 
completeness  will  depend,  in  a  great  measure,  the  reg- 
ularity and  validity  of  the  whole  proceeding. 

The  claimant,  either  at  the  time  of  filing  these  papers 
with  the  register  or  at  any  time  during  the  sixty  days' 
publication,  is  required  to  file  a  certificate  of  the  surveyor- 


120  THE  CHICAGO  RECORD'S 

general  that  not  less  than  $500  worth  of  labor  has  been 
expended  or  improvements  made  upon  the  claim  by  the 
applicant  or  his  grantors ;  that  the  plat  filed  by  the  claim- 
ant is  correct;  that  the  field  notes  of  the  survey,  as  hied, 
furnish  such  an  accurate  description  of  the  claim  as  will, 
if  incorporated  into  a  patent,  serve  to  fully  identify  the 
premises,  and  that  such  reference  is  made  therein  to 
natural  objects  or  permanent  monuments  as  will  per- 
petuate and  fix  the  locus  thereof. 

After  the  sixty  days'  period  of  newspaper  publication 
has  expired,  the  claimant  will  furnish  from  the  office  of 
publication  a  sworn  statement  that  the  notice  was  pub- 
lished for  the  statutory  period,  giving  the  first  and  last 
day  of  such  publication,  and  his  own  affidavit  showing 
that  the  plat  and  notice  aforesaid  remained  conspicuously 
posted  upon  the  claim  sought  to  be  patented  during  said 
sixty  days'  publication,  giving  the  dates. 

Upon  the  filing  of  this  affidavit  the  register  will,  if  no 
adverse  claim  was  filed  in  his  office  during  the  period  of 
publication,  permit  the  claimant  to  pay  for  the  land  ac- 
cording to  the  area  given  in  the  plat  and  field  notes  of 
survey  aforesaid,  at  the  rate  of  $5  for  each  acre,  and  $5 
for  each  fractional  part  of  an  acre,  the  receiver  issuing  the 
usual  duplicate  receipt  therefor.  The  claimant  will  also 
make  a  sworn  statement  of  all  charges  and  fees  paid  by 
him  for  publication  and  surveys,  together  with  all  fees 
and  money  paid  the  register  and  receiver  of  the  land 
office;  after  which  the  whole  matter  will  be  forwarded  to 
the  commissioner  of  the  general  land  oiBce  and  a  patent 
issued  thereon  if  found  regular. 

The  gold  digger's  "pan"  resembles  a  frying  pan  minus 
the  handle.  It  is  generally  circular  in  form,  from  10  to 
14  inches  in  diameter  at  the  bottom,  flaring  out  at  the  top 
to  a  diameter  three  or  four  inches  wider.     The  sides  are 


BOOK    FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  121 

about  five  inches  deep.  The  pans  are  made  of  copper, 
pressed  steel,  sheet  iron  or  stout  tin-plate,  preferably 
pressed  steel  or  copper. 

In  using  the  pans  a  quantity  of  the  dirt  to  be  washed, 
say  two  shovelfuls,  is  placed  in  the  pan.  The  pan 
should  not  be  filled  more  than  two-thirds  of  its  capacity. 
The  pan  with  its  contents  is  then  immersed  in  water  either 
in  a  hole  or  a  stream  of  such  a  depth  that  the  miner  can 
easily  reach  the  pan  with  his  hand  while  it  rests  on  the 
bottom.  The  mass  in  the  pan  is  stirred  up  with  both 
hands  so  that  every  particle  of  it  may  become  thoroughly 
mixed  with  the  water  and  disintegrated. 

When  the  dirt  has  become  thoroughly  soaked  and 
softened  by  the  water  so  that  it  is  a  thin  pasty  mass,  the 
pan  is  taken  in  both  hands,  one  on  either  side,  and  a  little 
inside  of  its  greatest  diameter,  that  is  to  say  about  half 
way  up  from  the  bottom  to  the  top.  Then  without  tak- 
ing it  from  the  water  it  is  held  in  the  hand  not  quite  level, 
but  tipped  somewhat  away  from  the  person. 

When  in  this  position  it  is  shaken  so  as  to  allow  the 
water  to  disengage  all  the  light  earthy  particles  and  carry 
them  away.  When  this  has  been  done  there  will  be  left 
in  the  pan  gold  dust,  gold  nuggets,  heavy  sand,  lumps  of 
clay  and  gravel  stone.  The  gravel  stones  generally  ac- 
cumulate on  the  surface  and  can  be  picked  off  by  hand 
and  thrown  aside.  The  lumps  of  clay  should  be  crumbled 
and  reduced  by  rubbing  and  "mashing,"  so  as  to  be 
carried  off  by  the  water  the  next  time  the  pan  is  placed  in 
the  water. 

This  operation,  simple  as  it  appears,  really  requires 
considerable  skill,  which  only  can  come  by  practice.  A 
neat  turn  of  the  wrist,  and  a  certain  oscillating  motion  so 
as  to  give  somewhat  of  a  whirlpool  effect  to  the  water  in 
the  pan  are  required  to  cause  the  muddy  matter  to  escape 


122  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

in  driblets  over  the  depressed  edge  of  the  pan  without 
sending  the  Hghter  portions  of  the  gold  after  them.  Fre- 
quently the  prospector  washes  out  his  gold  by  pouring 
in  water  on  top  of  the  dirt  in  his  pan,  and  then  shaking  it 
so  that  the  nuiddy  material  drips  down  on  to  the  ground. 
But  old  prospectors  say  that  the  best  results  can  be  ob- 
tained by  panning  under  water. 

At  last  nothing  remains  in  the  pan  but  the  gold  dust, 
with  usually  some  heavy  black  sand  and  a  little  earthy 
matter.  A  careful  washing  in  plenty  of  clean  water  will 
remove  the  earthy  matter  completely ;  but  the  heavy  iron 
sand  cannot  be  got  rid  of  without  the  use  of  a  magnet, 
mercury  or  blowing. 

Few  prospectors,  however,  carry  m.agnets  around  with 
them.  If  the  gold  dust  is  very  fine  and  mercury  is  ob- 
tainable, it  is  a  good  plan  to  put  a  couple  of  pounds  of 
mercury  in  a  bucket  of  water,  and  pour  in  the  mixed  gold 
dust  and  black  sand.  The  gold  will  amagamate  with  the 
mercury,  and  can  be  secured  afterwards  by  squeezing  the 
amalgam  through  buckskin. 

A  process  which  proved  very  effective  is  heating  the 
gold  and  sand  on  a  shovel  until  the  mass  is  perfectly  dry. 
The  sand  then  is  blown  away  from  the  gold,  and  by  care- 
fullv  regulating  the  force  of  the  blast,  either  from  the 
breath  of  the  operator  or  from  a  small  pair  of  bellows,  all 
of  the  sand  can  be  blown  away,  leaving  the  gold  behind. 
The  horn-spoon  is  a  very  simple  contrivance  used  in 
some  places  by  prospectors  instead  of  a  pan.  It  is  made 
by  cutting  a  piece  obliquely  out  of  a  large  ox  horn,  so  as 
to  give  a  length  of  from  8  to  lo  inches,  with  an  opening 
about  3  inches  across.  The  horn  is  then  scraped  down 
to  a  suitable  thickness.  In  selecting  the  horn  for  this 
purpose  it  is  best  to  use  one  that  is  black  at  one  end,  as 
the  o-old  can  be  seen  more  readily  against  a  black  surface. 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  123 

The  horn-spoon  is  a  most  useful  contrivance,  for  it  is 
light  and  durable  and  will  not  take  on  grease,  which 
would  prevent  perfect  contact  of  the  water  on  its  surface. 

The  pan  is  used  where  the  water  supply  is  insufficient 
for  a  cradle.  This  apparatus  is  so  called  because  it  bears 
in  its  outward  form  a  resemblance  to  an  ordinary  nursery 
cradle.  It  rests  on  a  pair  of  rockers,  and  is  made  to 
oscillate  just  as  a  cradle  is  rocked.  The  cradle  generally 
is  about  40  inches  long,  20  inches  wide  and  the  back  end 
rises  to  the  height  of  15  inches  to  2  feet.  The  sideboards 
of  the  cradle  slope  down  from  the  height  of  the  back 
board  to  about  a  couple  of  inches  at  the  mouth. 

A  movable  riddle,  or  hopper,  20  inches  square  and  6 
inches  deep,  with  a  bottom  of  sheet  iron  perforated  closely 
with  holes  one-half  inch  in  diameter,  fits  neatly  and 
snugly  in  the  top  of  the  cradle.  Belovv?  the  grating  an 
apron  made  of  canvas,  duck,  a  piece  of  blanket,  or  some 
other  suitable  material,  depending  upon  the  material 
which  the  prospector  has  at  hand,  is  stretched  on  a  frame 
work.  The  apron  or  curtain  slopes  down  from  the  mouth 
of  the  cradle  towards  the  bottom  of  the  back  board,  and 
rests  on  fillets  nailed  on  the  sideboards. 

On  the  bottom  of  the  cradle  2  pieces  of  wood  are  nailed 
from  one  side  to  the  other,  called  riffle-bars,  each  about 
three-quarters  of  an  inch  high.  One  rifile-bar  is  nailed 
about  the  middle  of  the  cradle  and  the  other  near  the 
outer  edge.  The  whole  apparatus  stands  on  rockers, 
which  are  cut  in  a  crescent  shape,  so  that  the  cradle  will 
rock  from  side  to  side. 

In  practice  the  pay  dirt  is  thrown  into  the  riddle.  If 
the  miner  is  working  alone  he  pours  water  over  the  dirt 
with  one  hand  and  rocks  his  apparatus  with  the  other. 
Generally,  however,  miners  work  in  pairs;  one  pours  and 
the  other  rocks.     The  rocking  stirs  up  the  pay  dirt  in  the 


124  THE   CHICAGO  RECORD'S 

riddle  and  the  disintegrated  mass  drops  through  the  holes 
at  the  bottom  of  the  riddle,  and  falling  on  the  apron,  is 
carried  to  the  back  end  of  the  cradle  and  thence  along  the 
floor,  the  water  carrying  it  over  the  riffle-bars  and  out  of 
the  mouth. 

The  cradle  is  placed  so  that  the  hopper  end  is 
about  2|  inches  higher  than  the  mouth  end.  Almost 
all  pay  dirt  contains  gravel  and  stone  of  various  sizes. 
Those  which  are  small  enough  to  pass  through  the  holes 
in  the  riddle  will  drop  through.  The  larger  ones,  which 
are  retained  in  the  riddle,  must  be  picked  out  by  hand  and 
thrown  aside,  without,  however,  stopping  the  rocking  of 
the  cradle.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  leave  the  small  gravel 
which  has  dropped  through,  to  remain  on  the  floor  of  the 
cradle,  because  they  will  help  the  process  of  breaking  up 
the  earthy  matter  found  in  the  gravel.  When  the  hopper 
has  become  filled  with  stones,  and  all  washed  clean,  they 
are  tipped  out  and  carefully  examined  for  any  nuggets  of 
gold  that  may  be  mixed  up  with  them.  A  certain  pro- 
portion of  very  fine  gold  dust  will  be  caught  and  held  by 
the  hairs  and  fibers  of  the  cloth  in  the  apron,  and  larger 
particles  of  gold  will  collect  behind  the  rifHe-bars  on  the 
bed  of  the  cradle. 

Two  or  three  times  a  day,  depending  of  course  upon 
the  nature  and  richness  of  the  pay  dirt,  the  cradle  must 
be  cleaned  up.  The  hopper  is  taken  out  so  that  the  apron 
can  be  withdrawn.  The  apron  is  then  washed  in  a  bucket 
or  some  other  receptacle  containing  clean  water.  This 
will  dislodge  the  gold  dust  held  in  the  fiber  or  hair  of  the 
apron,  and  it  can  be  recovered  from  the  bottom  of  the 
vessel.  The  gold  and  other  material  which  has  been 
caught  by  the  riffle-bars  are  scraped  out  with  an  iron 
spoon. 

The  scrapings  are  put  in  a  pan,  and  the  gold  then  is 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  125 

panned  out.  As  water  weighs  much  more  than  the  pay 
dirt  to  the  bucket,  the  pay  dirt  generally  is  brought  to 
the  place  where  the  water  is,  where  it  is  not  possible  to  let 
the  water  flow  to  the  pay  dirt  by  gravity.  The  cradle 
should  be  set  far  enough  back  from  the  source  of  the 
water  supply  so  as  to  provide  sufficient  fall  and  outlet  for 
the  "pailings."  A  little  pit  or  well  sometimes  is  dug  to 
serve  as  a  reservoir  near  at  hand  for  the  miner  to  ladle  out 
his  water.  If  it  is  possible,  water  should  be  conveyed  to 
the  hopper  through  a  trough,  made  by  two  boards  nailed 
together  "V"  shaped.  One  man  working  alone  can  wash 
from  I  to  3  cubic  yards  of  pay  dirt  a  day,  depending  upon 
the  clayey  nature  of  the  dirt.  It  is  better,  however,  for 
two  men  to  work  together,  as  they  can  do  more  than  twice 
the  work  of  one  man. 

Cradling  is  neither  economical  nor  expeditious.  Much 
fine  gold  is  lost  by  its  use,  but  it  is  cheap,  requires  little 
water  and  is  portable.  It  is  not  advisable  to  use  mercury 
in  the  cradle.  The  "long  tom"  is  an  improvement  on 
the  cradle.  It  consists  of  two  troughs  or  boxes.  A  Cali- 
fornian  "tom"  is  about  12  feet  long,  20  inches  wide  at  the 
upper  end,  and  30  inches  wide  at  the  mouth.  It  is  sup- 
ported on  stones  or  logs,  and  is  worked  by  two  to  four 
men,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  pay  dirt  and  the 
supply  of  water.  The  apparatus  is  used  only  where  water 
can  be  brought  to  it,  so  that  a  constant  flow  is  secured. 

The  spout  or  water  trough  leads  the  water  into  the 
upper  box  or  "tom"  proper.  The  lower  end  of  this  box 
is  cut  off  obliquely,  and  the  mouth  is  stopped  by  a  sheet 
of  iron  perforated  closely  with  holes  about  a  half  inch  in 
diameter.  The  "tom"  slants  on  an  angle  so  that  the 
upper  or  spout  end  is  12  inches  higher  than  the  lower  or 
grating  end.  The  riffle-box,  which  like  the  "tom"  is 
made  of  rough  plank,  is  placed  so  that  the  mass  of  water, 


126  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

sand,  fine  gravel,  clay,  and  gold  falls  into  its  upper  end 
through  the  perforations  in  the  grating. 

From  5  to  7  riffle-bars  are  nailed  on  the  bottom  of  the 
riffle-box,  and  the  box  is  placed  on  an  incline  sufficient  to 
allow  the  water  passing  over  it  to  carry  off  the  light 
earthy  and  clayey  materials,  leaving  the  gold  encased  in 
the  fine  mud  which  will  form  on  the  bottom.  In  some 
cases  a  little  mercury  is  placed  behind  the  riffle-bars  to  as- 
sist in  holding  the  gold,  and  occasionally  a  series  of  blan- 
ket aprons  are  used  to  catch  the  fine  gold  that  will  go 
through  with  the  tailings. 

The  stream  of  water  flows  continuously.  The  dirt  is 
thrown  into  the  "tom"  or  upper  trough  by  one  man,  while 
his  partner  stirs  it  about  with  a  square  edged  shovel  or  a 
blunt  pronged  fork.  The  floor  of  the  "tom"  is  covered 
with  sheet-iron,  tin,  or  any  sheet  metal  which  may  be  at 
hand,  to  save  wear  and  tear  of  the  floor.  The  grating 
prevents  the  heavy  stones  and  gravel  from  passing 
through.  The  "long  toms"  are  cleaned  up  periodically, 
and  the  gold  or  amalgam,  in  case  mercury  is  used,  is 
panned  out. 

Sluices  can  be  used  only  vvhere  there  is  an  abundant 
supply  of  water.  Sluices  are  of  two  kinds ;  the  box-sluice, 
which  is  raised  above  the  surface  necessitating  the  rais- 
ing of  pay  dirt  into  them;  the  ground  sluice,  which  is 
generally  sunk  below  the  surface.  The  box-sluice  is  a 
long  wooden  trough  or  a  series  of  troughs,  varying  from 
50  feet  to  several  thousand  feet  in  length.  The  width  is 
never  less  than  12  inches,  nor  more  than  60  inches; 
generally  16  to  18  inches.  The  height  of  the  sides  varies 
from  8  to  12  inches. 

A  sluice  is  made  up  in  sections,  each  from  12  to  14  feet 
long.  Each  section  is  built  of  one  and  an  inch  rough 
plank,  and  one  end  is  made  wider  than  the  other  so  that 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  127 

the  sections  can  be  fitted  or  telescoped  into  each  other 
as  a  stovepipe  is  made  up.  The  trout,'/''s  rest  on  trestles 
and  are  down  grade  all  the  way  from  pay  dirt.  The  slant 
or  incline  varies  from  8  to  i8  inches  for  every  running 
foot  of  trough.  A  fall  of  8  inches  is  called  an  "8-inch 
grade,"  lo  inches  a  lo-inch  grade.  The  shorter  the  sluice 
the  smaller  the  grade  should  be,  as  there  is  more  danger 
or  fine  gold  being  lost  in  a  short  than  in  a  long  sluice. 

The  nature  of  the  ground,  the  supply  of  water  and  the 
character  of  the  material  in  which  the  gold  is  found  must 
determine  the  grade  of  the  sluice.  If  the  clay  ["  tough 
and  balls  easily,  the  grade  should  be  steep.  In  general 
it  may  be  said  the  steeper  the  grade  the  more  quickly  the 
dirt  is  dissolved  in  the  water.  But  at  the  same  time  the 
force  of  the  water  is  more  likely  to  carry  away  the  fine 
gold. 

Ordinary  pay  dirt  generally  is  completely  dissolved 
in  a  moderately  low  grade  sluice  in  the  first  200  feet  of 
flow.  Any  extra  length  added  to  this  is  useful  only  to 
catch  the  finer  gold.  In  such  case  this  length  is  of  a 
much  lower  grade,  that  is,  less  slanting  than  the  working 
part  of  the  sluice.  When  the  incline  of  a  sluice  is  slight 
gold  is  easily  caught,  and  much  of  it  will  be  caught  on  the 
smooth  floor  of  the  sluice  without  the  aid  of  riiSe-bars. 
Where  there  are  plenty  of  stones,  a  number  of  them  may 
be  placed  at  the  mouth  of  each  section  of  a  sluice  to  pre- 
vent the  bottom  from  being  "run  bare." 

Generally,  however,  a  false  bottom  is  used  in  the  sluice, 
designed  not  only  to  catch,  but  to  save  the  wear  and  tear 
on  the  fioor  of  the  sluice  itself.  In  California  false  bot- 
toms are  made  of  riflie-bars,  which  run  lengthwise  with 
the  sluice  about  6  feet  long,  3  to  7  inches  wide  and  2  to  4 
inches  thick;  2  sets  for  each  length  of  sluice.     They  are 


128  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

kept  in  place  by  cross-pieces,  which  wedge  them  down 
against  the  side  of  the  trough. 

The  false  bottoms  are  not  nailed  down  to  the  sluice  as 
they  must  be  removed  at  every  cleaning  up.  The  gold 
and  other  heavy  material  fall  through  this  false  floor  sink- 
ing through  the  lighter  material  to  the  box  floor.  A 
modification  of  the  false  bottom  is  the  block  and  zig-zag 
riffles.  False  bottoms  generally  wear  away  in  a  week 
or  less  if  there  is  a  great  quantity  of  pebbles  and  boulders 
in  the  pay  dirt. 

Where  such  material  is  handled  it  is  best  to  use  block 
riffles.  The  wood  for  block  riffles  is  cut  across  the  grain 
so  that  the  fibers  stand  upright  in  the  sluice  box,  as  in  the 
tree.  Zig-zag  riffles  consist  of  bars  which  are  nailed  to 
the  bottom  of  the  sluice  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees  to  the 
side,  reaching  diagonally  across  to  within  an  inch  of  the 
other  side.  Such  gold  and  heavy  materials  as  are  not 
completely  caught  in  this  zig-zag  course  are  caught  with 
a  supplemental  stretch  of  ordinary  longitudinal  riffles. 

A  ground  sluice  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  gutter 
or  ditch  excavated  in  the  ground,  and  it  is  only  used  when 
lumber  cannot  be  obtained  for  making  a  board  sluice  or 
when  the  amount  of  water  available  is  not  sufficient  for 
a  continuous  supply  for  a  box  sluice.  It  sometimes 
happens  that  a  heavy  fall  of  rain  will  furnish  a  head  of 
water  for  a  short  time,  but  not  long  enough  to  pay  for 
building  a  box  sluice.  Under  such  conditions  the  miner 
resorts  to  the  ground  sluice,  provided  he  has  enough 
fall  and  outlet  for  the  tailings. 

A  ground  sluice  will  use  up  6  times  as  much  water  as  a 
box  sluice  to  do  the  same  amount  of  work.  The  gutter 
is  formed  partly  by  taking  the  stream  through  it,  assisted 
by  loosening  the  earth  with  a  pick;  when  the  gutter  is 
made  the  pay  dirt  is  eitEer  washed  into  it  by  the  stream  it- 


DIAGRAM    SHOWING   SECTION    OF    PLACER    CLAIM    14,   ON 
EL    DORADO   CREEK,   KLONDIKE    DISTRICT. 


CALr^OTff^iAN  fvmP 


MINERS   PAN,  CRADLE,   LONG   TOM,   AND   PUMP. 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  131 

self  or  carried  by  the  miners.  If  the  miner  is  fortunate 
enough  to  have  a  hard  and  uneven  bed  rock  for  the  bot- 
tom of  his  ground  shiice,  the  rough  floor  will  be  enough, 
in  itself,  to  hold  the  gold,  but  boulders  and  heavy  stones, 
too  large  to  be  moved  by  the  water,  can  be  thrown  in  hap- 
hazard on  the  bottom  of  the  ground  sluice  to  take  the 
place  of  riffle-bars.     Of  course  no  mercury  is  used. 

The  process  of  cleaning  up  a  ground  sluice  is  started  by 
diverting  the  water  from  the  channel.  Then  the  gold 
with  its  sand  is  collected  and  is  panned  out  or  else  washed 
through  a  cradle  or  a  "long  tom,"  or  a  short  box-sluice. 

Riffle-bars,  boulders  and  blankets  will  catch  a  large 
percentage  of  gold  in  pay  dirt;  probably  all  of  the  heavy 
part  of  gold,  but  a  large  amount  of  fine  gold  would  es- 
cape were  it  not  for  the  use  of  mercury.  Mercury  acts 
upon  gold  as  a  magnet  does  upon  iron.  Mercury  in  the 
presence  of  gold  forms  an  amalgam.  It  is  used  in  sluices 
in  various  ways.  When  zig-zag  riffle-bars  are  used,  a 
vessel  containing  quicksilver  is  placed  near  the  head 
of  the  sluice.  A  tiny  hole  in  the  vessel  permits  the  mer- 
cury to  escape  in  minute  portions.  It  trickles  down  from 
riffle  to  riffle,  overtakes  the  gold  and  forms  an  amalgam, 
which  is  caught  in  the  longitudinal  riffles  near  the  end  of 
the  sluices. 

In  the  ordinary  sluice,  where  the  riffle-bars  are  placed 
lengthwise,  mercury  is  poured  in  at  the  head  of  the  sluice 
about  two  hour's  after  the  washing  is  started.  The  mer- 
cury finds  its  way  down  slowly,  but  remains  generally 
in  the  upper  boxes.  On  this  account  small  portions  are 
introduced  at  intervals  lower  down ;  the  amount  being  in- 
creased according  to  the  amount  of  fine  gold  present. 

Where  the  gold  is  exceedingly  fine  copper  plates  are 
used.  A  plate  will  measure  3  feet  wide  and  6  feet  long, 
and  sometimes  the  stream  is  divided  and  carried  over 
7 


132  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

several  plates.  The  plate  is  placed  nearly  level  and  at  a 
good  distance  from  the  head  of  the  sluice,  as  it  is  used 
only  for  catching  the  finest  gold  dust,  A  sheet-iron 
screen,  perforated  with  slits  one-half  inch  long  and  a 
sixteenth  of  an  inch  wide,  is  placed  in  front  of  the  copper 
plate,  so  that  only  the  finest  particles  of  gold  will  pass 
over  the  plate. 

The  copper  is  amalgamated  as  follows:  A  weak  nitric 
acid  is  washed  over  the  upper  surface,  and  then  some 
mercury,  which  has  been  treated  with  dilute  nitric  acid  to 
form  a  little  nitrate  of  mercury,  is  applied  on  the  surface 
of  the  copper.  If  this  amalgamation  is  well  performed 
once  it  need  not  be  repeated,  as  it  will  only  require  some 
fresh  mercury  to  be  dropped  on  it  as  fast  as  the  gold  con- 
verts it  into  amalgam.  The  flow  of  water  should  be  slow 
and  shallow  so  that  every  bit  of  gold  can  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  face  of  the  plate. 

Sometimes  a  newly  amalgamated  plate  becomes  coated 
with  a  green  slime  (due  to  the  formation  of  subsalts  of 
copper),  and  then  is  incapable  of  absorbing  the  gold. 
This  slime  must  be  scraped  ofif  carefully,  and  the  scraped 
spots  must  be  rubbed  with  fresh  mercury.  To  remove 
the  amalgam,  the  plate  is  taken  up  and  heated  to  a  degree 
which  will  make  the  copper  plate  uncomfortably  warm. 
This  will  soften  and  loosen  the  amalgam,  which  then  can 
be  easily  scraped  off.  The  copper  is  then  allowed  to  cool 
and  again  is  rubbed  with  a  little  ordinary  mercury.  The 
copper  should  not  be  less  than  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch 
thick,  and  as  the  mercury  makes  it  brittle  as  glass  it  must 
be  handled  with  considerable  care. 

The  process  of  cleaning  of  gold,  mercury  and  amalgam 
caught  in  a  sluice  is  as  follows:  Cleaning  up  generally 
is  effected  after  every  6  or  7  days'  run.  The  miner,  when 
he  is  ready  to  clean  up,  stops  feeding  in  pay  dirt,  but  lets 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  133 

the  watef  run  through  the  shiice  boxes  until  it  comes  out 
in  a  clear  stream.  Beginning  at  the  head  of  the  sluice  the 
first  5  or  6  sets  of  riffle-bars  are  lifted  out  of  the  boxes. 
Some  of  the  dirt  will  be  dislodged.  This  is  washed  down 
into  the  next  set  of  boxes  and  the  mass  of  heavy  gold,  and 
black  sand  and  clay,  or  other  materials  caught  in  the  first 
set  of  boxes,  is  scraped  out  with  a  spoon.  The  next  sets 
then  are  treated  the  same  way  and  so  on  until  the  end  of 
the  sluice. 

The  amalgam  and  mercury  taken  out  are  placed  in  a 
buckskin  or  canvas  bag,  where  it  is  subjected  to  pres- 
sure; either  squeezed  between  the  hands  or  placed  under 
a  weight.  The  excess  of  mercury  will  be  forced  through 
the  pores  of  buckskin  or  canvas  into  a  vessel  placed  be- 
neath to  catch  it.  The  amalgam  remaining  is  sponge- 
like in  texture  and  is  largely  pure  gold.  The  gold  is 
separated  from  the  amalgam  and  the  mercury  by  plac- 
ing the  amalgam  in  a  retort  and  subjecting  it  to  the  heat. 

The  California  pump  was  used  wdth  great  success  by 
placer  miners  in  the  golden  state.  It  is  what  might  be 
called  a  chain  pump.  A  rectangular  box  lo  inches  wide 
and  3  inches  high  inside  measurement,  and  from  lo  to  30 
feet  long,  is  traversed  by  an  endless  flexible  belt  or  band 
of  canvas.  On  one  side  of  the  belt  pieces  of  wood,  just 
enough  smaller  than  the  inside  of  the  box  to  permit  clear- 
ance, are  nailed  to  the  canvas.  At  the  lower  end  of  the 
box,  which  dipped  into  the  water,  is  a  roller  around  which 
the  belt  passes.  At  the  upper  end  the  belt  passes  around 
a  second  roller  or  drum,  which  is  made  to  revolve  by  a 
crank. 

The  faces  of  the  blocks,  which  are  called  buckets  or 
suckers,  are  covered  with  leather  which  projects  some- 
what beyond  the  edges  of  the  wood.  In  operation  the 
miner  causes  the  drum  at  the  upper  end  of  the  box  to  re- 


184  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

volve.  This  puts  the  canvas  belt  in  motion  and  the 
buckets,  catching  the  water  of  the  stream,  carry  it  up 
through  the  water-box,  emptying  it  out  into  the  reservoir 
or  cradle,  "long  torn"  or  short  box-sluice.  Such  pumps 
are  exceedingly  useful  where  the  gold-bearing  earth  is 
high  up  on  the  banks  of  a  ravine  or  in  the  side  of  a  gulch. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  135 

CHAPTER  VII. 
UNITED  STATES  MINING  LAWS. 

#7^—^11^  LAND  district  of  Alaska  was  created 
'''T>^^==^i,"J  by  act  of  congress  May  17,  1884,  and 

the  land  commissioner  was  made  ex- 
ofificio  register  of  the  land  office;  and 
the  marshal  of  the  district  was  made 
ex-ofificio  surveyor-general  of  the 
district.  That  portion  of  the  act  pro- 
viding a  civil  government  in  Alaska, 
which  is  of  direct  interest  to  gold  seekers  in  Alaska,  reads 
as  follows: 

'*Sec.  8.  That  the  said  district  of  Alaska  is  hereby  cre- 
ated a  land  district,  and  a  United  States  land  office  for 
said  district  is  hereby  located  at  Sitka.  The  commissioner 
provided  for  by  this  act  to  reside  at  Sitka  shall  be  ex-ofii- 
cio  register  of  said  land  office,  and  the  clerk  provided  for 
by  this  act  shall  be  ex-officio  receiver  of  public  moneys, 
and  the  marshal  provided  for  by  this  act  shall  be  ex-officio 
surveyor-general  of  said  district,  and  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  relating  to  mining  claims,  and  the  rights 
incident  thereto,  shall,  from  and  after  the  passage  of  this 
act,  be  in  full  force  and  effect  in  said  district,  under  the 
administration  thereof  herein  provided  for,  subject  to 
such  regulations  as  may  be  made  by  the  secretary  of  the 
interior,  approved  by  the  president:  Provided,  That  the 
Indians  or  other  persons  in  said  district  shall  not  be  dis- 
turbed in  the  possession  of  any  lands  actually  in  their  use 
or  occupation  or  now  claimed  by  them,  but  the  terms 
under  which  such  persons  may  acquire  title  to  such  lands 


136  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

is  reserved  for  future  legislation  by  congress:  And  pro- 
vided further,  That  parties  who  have  located  mines  or 
mineral  privileges  therein  under  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  applicable  to  the  public  domain,  or  who  have  oc- 
cupied and  improved  or  exercised  acts  of  ownership  over 
such  claims,  shall  not  be  disturbed  therein,  but  shall  be 
allowed  to  perfect  their  title  to  such  claims  by  payment 
as  aforesaid:  And  provided  also,  That  the  land  not  ex- 
ceeding six  hundred  and  forty  acres  at  any  station  now 
occupied  as  missionary  stations  among  the  Indian  tribes 
in  said  section,  with  the  improvements  thereon  erected 
by  or  for  such  societies,  shall  be  continued  in  the  occu- 
pancy of  the  several  religious  societies  to  which  said  mis- 
sionary stations  respectively  belong  until  action  by 
congress.  But  nothing  contained  in  this  act  shall  be  con- 
strued to  put  in  force  in  said  district  the  general  laws  of 
i    the  United  States." 

■^  Land  ofBce  regulations  providing  for  the  administra- 
tion of  the  mining  laws,  as  prescribed  by  the  regulations 
of  the  land  office,  will  be  adopted  for  and  extended  to 
Alaska  as  far  as  applicable. 

Under  section  2318  of  the  United  States  law,  all  lands, 
valuable  for  minerals,  are  reserved  from  sale,  except  as 
otherwise  expressly  directed  by  law. 

License  to  explore,  occupy  and  purchase  mineral  lands 
A  is  authorized  as  follows: 

"Sec.  2319.  All  valuable  mineral  deposits  in  lands  be- 
longing to  the  United  States,  both  surveyed  and  unsur- 
veyed,  are  hereby  declared  to  be  free  and  open  to  explora- 
tion and  purchase,  and  the  lands  in  which  they  are  found 
to  occupation  and  purchase,  by  citizens  of  the  United 
States  and  those  who  have  declared  their  intention  to  be- 
come such,  under  regulations  prescribed  by  law,  and  ac- 
cording to  the  local  customs  or  rules  of  miners  in  the 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  137 

several  mining  districts,  so  far  as  the  same  are  applicable 
and  not  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  the  United  States." 

Locators  must  show  proof  of  citizenship  or  an  inten- 
tion to  become  citizens.  This  may  be  done  as  provided 
in  the  following  section: 

"Sec.  2321.  Proof  of  citizenship,  under  this  chapter, 
may  consist,  in  the  case  of  an  individual,  of  his  own  affi- 
davit thereof;  in  the  case  of  an  association  of  persons 
unincorporated,  of  the  affidavit  of  their  authorized  agent, 
made  on  his  own  knowledge,  or  upon  information  and  be- 
lief; and  in  the  case  of  a  corporation  organized  under  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  01  of  any  state  or  territory 
thereof,  by  the  filing  of  a  certified  copy  of  their  charter  or 
certificate  of  incorporation." 

^  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  defined 
the  term  "placer  claim"  as  "Ground  within  defined  boun- 
daries which  contains  mineral  in  its  earth,  sand  or  gravel ; 
ground  that  includes  valuable  deposits  not  in  place,  that 
is,  not  fixed  in  rock,  but  which  are  in  a  loose  state,  and 
may  in  most  cases  be  collected  by  washing  or  amalgama- 
tion without  milling." 

The  section  relating  to  "placer  claims"  defines  "placer" 
as  follows : 

"Section  2329.  Claims  usually  called  'placer,'  including 
all  forms  of  deposits,  excepting  veins  of  quartz,  or  other 
rock  in  place,  shall  be  subject  to  entry  and  patent,  under 
like  circumstances  and  conditions,  and  upon  similar  pro- 
ceedings, as  are  provided  for  vein  or  lode  claims;  but 
where  the  lands  have  been  previously  surveyed  by  the 
United  States,  the  entry  in  its  exterior  limits  shall  con- 
form to  the  legal  subdivisions  of  the  public  lands." 
:.  In  locating  "placer  claims"  the  law  provides  that  no 
location  of  such  claim  upon  surveyed  ground  shall  in- 
clude more  than  twenty  acres  for  each  individual  claim- 


138  THE   CHICAGO  RECORD'S 

ant.  The  Supreme  Court,  however,  has  held  that  one 
individual  can  hold  as  many  locations  as  he  can  purchase 
and  rely  upon  his  possessory  title;  that  a  separate  patent 
for  each  location  is  unnecessary.  The  United  States  law 
relating  to  placer  claims  reads  as  follows: 

"Section  2329.  Claims  usually  called  'placer,'  including 
ing  all  forms  of  deposit,  excepting  veins  of  quartz,  or 
other  rock  in  place,  shall  be  subject  to  entry  and  patent, 
under  like  circumstances  and  conditions,  and  upon  sim- 
ilar proceedings,  as  arc  provided  for  vein  or  lode  claims; 
but  where  the  lands  have  been  previously  surveyed  by 
the  United  States,  the  entry  in  its  exterior  limits  shall 
conform  to  the  legal  subdivisions  of  the  public  lands." 

"Section  2330.  Legal  subdivisions  of  forty  acres  may 
be  subdivided  into  ten-acre  tracts ;  and  two  or  more  per- 
sons, or  associations  of  persons,  having  contiguous 
claims  of  any  size,  although  such  claims  may  be  less  than 
ten  acres  each,  may  make  joint  entry  thereof;  but  no 
location  of  a  placer-claim,  made  after  the  ninth  day  of 
July,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy,  shall  exceed  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  for  any  one  person  or  associa- 
tion of  persons,  which  location  shall  conform  to  the 
United  States  surveys;  and  nothing  in  this  section  con- 
tained shall  defeat  or  impair  any  bona  fide  pre-emption 
or  homestead  claim  upon  agricultural  lands,  or  author- 
ize the  sale  of  the  improvements  of  any  bona  fide  settler 
to  any  purchaser." 

"Section  2331.  Where  placer-claims  are  upon  sur- 
veyed lands,  and  conform  to  legal  subdivisions,  no  further 
survey  or  plat  shall  be  required,  and  all  placer-mining 
claims  located  after  the  tenth  day  of  May,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  seventy-two,  shall  conform  as  near  as  prac- 
ticable with  the  United  States  system  of  public-land  sur- 
veys, and  the  rectangular  subdivisions  of  such  survevs. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  Tdd 

and  no  such  location  shall  include  more  than  twenty  acres 
for  each  individual  claimant;  but  where  placer-claims 
can  not  be  conformed  to  legal  subdivisions,  survey  and 
plat  shall  be  made  as  on  unsurveyed  lands;  and  where 
by  the  segregation  of  mineral  lands  in  any  legal  subdi- 
vision a  quantity  of  agricultural  land  less  than  forty  acres 
remains,  such  fractional  portions  of  agricultural  land  may 
be  entered  by  any  party  qualified  by  law,  for  homestead 
or  pre-emption  purposes." 

The  following  section  relates  to  the  application  for  a 
patent  for  lode  and  placer  claims: 

"Section  2335.  A  patent  for  any  land  claimed  and 
located  for  valuable  deposits  may  be  obtained  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner:  Any  person,  association,  or  corporation 
authorized  to  locate  a  claim  under  this  chapter,  having 
claimed  and  located  a  piece  of  land  for  such  purposes, 
who  has,  or  have,  complied  with  the  terms  of  this  chap- 
ter, may  file  in  the  proper  land-ofBce  an  application  for 
a  patent,  under  oath,  showing  such  compliance,  together 
with  a  plat  and  field-notes  of  the  claim  or  claims  in  com- 
mon, made  by  or  under  the  direction  of  the  United  States 
surveyor-general,  showing  accurately  the  boundaries  of 
the  claim  or  claims,  which  shall  be  distinctly  marked  by 
monuments  on  the  ground,  and  shall  post  a  copy  of  such 
plat,  together  wnth  a  notice  of  such  application  for  a 
patent,  in  a  conspicuous  place  on  the  land  embraced  in 
such  plat  previous  to  the  filing  of  the  application  for  a 
patent,  and  shall  file  an  affidavit  of  at  least  tw^o  persons 
that  such  notice  has  been  duly  posted,  and  shall  file  a 
copy  of  the  notice  in  such  land  ofhce,  and  shall  thereupon 
be  entitled  to  a  patent  for  the  land  in  the  manner  follow- 
ing: The  register  of  the  land  office,  upon  the  filing  of 
such  application,  plat,  field  notes,  notices,  and  affidavits, 
shall  publish  a  notice  that  such  application   has   been 


140  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

made,  for  the  period  of  sixty  days,  in  a  newspaper  to  be 
by  him  designated  as  published  nearest  to  such  claim; 
and  he  shall  also  post  such  notice  in  his  office  for  the 
same  period.  The  claimant  at  the  time  of  filing  this 
application,  or  at  any  time  thereafter,  within  the  sixty 
days  of  publication,  shall  file  with  the  register  a  certifi- 
cate of  the  United  States  surveyor-general  that  five  hun- 
dred dollars'  worth  of  labor  has  been  expended  or  im- 
provements made  upon  the  claim  by  himself  or  grantors; 
that  the  plat  is  correct,  with  such  further  description  by 
such  reference  to  natural  objects  or  permanent  monu- 
ments as  shall  identify  the  claim,  and  furnish  an  accurate 
description,  to  be  incorporated  in  the  patent.  At  the 
expiration  of  the  sixty  days  of  publication  the  claimant 
shall  file  his  affidavit,  showing  that  the  plat  and  notice 
have  been  posted  in  a  conspicuous  place  on  the  claim  dur- 
ing such  period  of  publication.  If  no  adverse  claim  shall 
have  been  filed  with  the  register  and  the  receiver  of  the 
proper  land-office  at  the  expiration  of  the  sixty  days  of 
publication,  it  shall  be  assumed  that  the  applicant  is 
entitled  to  a  patent,  upon  the  payment  to  the  proper  offi- 
cer of  five  dollars  per  acre,  and  that  no  adverse  claim 
exists;  and  thereafter  no  objection  from  third  parties 
to  the  issuance  of  a  patent  shall  be  heard,  except  it  be 
shown  that  the  applicant  has  failed  to  comply  with  the 
terms  of  this  chapter." 

^  Locators  on  placer  claims  which  contain  lodes  are 
brought  within  the  provisions  of  the  following  section: 
"Section  2333.  Where  the  same  person,  association, 
or  corporation  is  in  possession  of  a  placer  claim,  and  also 
a  vein  or  lode  included  within  the  boundaries  thereof, 
application  shall  be  made  for  a  patent  for  the  placer  claim, 
with  the  statement  that  it  includes  such  vein  or  lode,  and 
in  such  case  a  patent  shall  issue  for  a  placer  claim,  sub- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  141 

ject  to  the  provisions  of  this  chapter,  inchiding  such  vein 
or  lode,  upon  the  payment  of  five  dollars  per  acre  for 
such  vein  or  lode  claim,  and  twenty-five  feet  of  surface 
on  each  side  thereof.  The  remainder  of  the  placer  claim, 
or  any  placer  claim  not  embracing  any  vein  or  lode  claim, 
shall  be  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents 
per  acre,  together  with  all  costs  of  proceedings;  and 
where  a  vein  or  lode,  such  as  is  described  in  section 
2320  is  known  to  exist  within  the  boundaries  of  a  placer 
claim,  an  application  for  a  patent  for  such  placer  claim 
which  does  not  include  an  application  for  the  vein  or  lode 
claim  shall  be  construed  as  a  conclusive  declaration  that 
the  claimant  of  the  placer  claim  has  no  right  of  possession 
of  the  vein  or  lode  claim;  but  where  the  existence  of  a 
vein  or  lode  in  a  placer  claim  is  not  known,  a  patent 
for  the  placer  claim  shall  convey  all  valuable  mineral  and 
other  deposits  within  the  boundaries  thereof." 
\  The  land  office  regulations  relating  to  placer  claims 
containing  lodes  read  as  follows: 

"Applicants  for  patent  to  a  placer  claim  who  are  also 
in  possession  of  a  known  vein  or  lode  included  therein 
must  state  in  their  application  that  the  placer  includes 
such  vein  or  lode.  The  published  and  posted  notices 
must  also  include  such  statement.  If  veins  or  lodes  lying 
within  a  placer  location  are  owned  by  other  parties  the 
fact  should  be  distinctly  stated  in  the  application  for 
patent  and  in  all  the  notices.  But  in  all  cases  whether 
the  lode  is  claimed  or  excluded,  it  must  be  surveyed  and 
marked  upon  the  plat;  the  field  notes  and  plat  giving  the 
area  of  the  lode  claim  or  claims  and  the  area  of  the  placer 
separately.  It  should  be  remembered  that  an  application 
which  omits  or  includes  an  application  for  a  known  vein 
or  lode  therein,  must  be  construed  as  a  conclusive  decla- 
ration that  the  apphcant  has  no  right  of  possession  to 


142  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

the  vein  or  lode.  Where  there  is  no  known  lode  or  vein 
the  fact  must  appear  by  the  affidavit  of  two  or  more  wit- 
nesses." 

The  section  of  the  United  States  law  relating  to  "lode" 
claims  reads  as  follows: 

"Section  2320.  Mining  claims  upon  veins  or  lodes  of 
quartz  or  other  rock  in  place,  bearing  gold,  silver,  cinna- 
bar, lead,  tin,  copper,  or  other  valuable  deposits  here- 
tofore located,  shall  be  governed  as  to  length  along  the 
vein  or  lode  by  the  customs,  regulations,  and  laws  in  force 
at  the  date  of  their  location.  A  mining  claim  located 
after  the  tenth  day  of  May,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy- 
two,  whether  located  by  one  or  more  persons,  may  equal, 
but  shall  not  exceed  one  thousand  five  hundred  feet  in 
length  along  the  vein  or  lode ;  but  no  location  of  a  mining 
claim  shall  be  made  until  the  discovery  of  the  vein  or  lode 
within  the  limits  of  the  claim  located.  No  claim  shall 
extend  more  than  three  hundred  feet  on  each  side  of  the 
middle  of  the  vein  at  the  surface,  nor  shall  any  claim  be 
limited  by  any  mining  regulation  to  less  than  twenty-five 
feet  on  each  side  of  the  middle  of  the  vein  at  the  surface, 
except  where  adverse  rights  existing  on  the  tenth  day  of 
May,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-two,  render  such  lim- 
itation necessary.  The  end  lines  of  each  claim  shall  be 
parallel  to  each  other." 

"Section  2322.  The  locators  of  all  mining  locations 
heretofore  made  or  which  shall  hereafter  be  made,  on  any 
mineral  vein,  lode,  or  ledge,  situated  on  the  public  do- 
main, their  heirs  and  assigns,  where  no  adverse  claim 
exists  on  the  tenth  day  of  May,  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventy-two,  so  long  as  they  comply  with  the  laws  of 
the  United  States,  and  with  state,  territorial,  and  local 
regulations  not  in  conflict  with  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  governing  their  possessory  title,  shall  have  the 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  W6 

exclusive  right  of  possession  and  enjoyment  of  all 
the  surface  included  within  the  lines  of  their  loca- 
tions, and  of  all  veins,  lodes,  and  ledges  through- 
out their  entire  depth,  the  top  or  apex  of  which 
lies  inside  of  such  surface  lines  extended  downward  ver- 
tically, although  such  veins,  lodes,  or  ledges  may  so  far 
depart  from  a  perpendicular  in  their  course  downward 
as  to  extend  outside  the  vertical  side  lines  of  such  surface 
locations.  But  their  right  of  possession  to  such  outside 
parts  of  such  veins  or  ledges  shall  be  confined  to  such 
portions  thereof  as  lie  between  vertical  planes  drawn 
downward  as  above  described,  through  the  end  lines  of 
their  locations,  so  continued  in  their  own  direction  that 
such  planes  will  intersect  such  exterior  parts  of  such  veins 
or  ledges.  And  nothing  in  this  section  shall  authorize  the 
locator  or  possessor  of  a  vein  or  lode  which  extends  in 
its  downward  course  beyond  the  vertical  lines  of  his  claim 
to  enter  upon  the  surface  of  a  claim  owned  or  possessed 
by  another." 
^  The  United  States  law  permits  miners  of  each  mining 
district  to  make  regidations  governing  location,  manner 
of  recording,  etc.,  so  long  as  the  rules  and  regulations 
do  not  conflict  with  the  federal  statutes.  The  section  giv- 
ing this  permission  reads  as  follows: 

"Section  2324.  The  miners  of  each  mining  district 
may  make  regulations  not  in  conflict  with  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  or  with  the  laws  of  the  state  or  territory  in 
which  the  district  is  situated,  governing  the  location, 
manner  of  recording,  amount  of  work  necessary  to  hold 
possession  of  a  mining  claim,  subject  to  the  following 
requirements:  The  location  must  be  distinctly  marked 
on  the  ground,  so  that  its  boundaries  can  be  readily 
traced.  All  records  of  mining  claims  hereafter  made  shall 
contain  the  name  or  names  of  the  locators,  the  date  of 


144  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

the  location,  and  such  a  description  of  the  claim  or  claims 
tocated  by  reference  to  some  natural  object  or  perma- 
nent monument  as  will  identify  the  claim.  On  each  claim 
located  after  the  tenth  day  of  May,  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventy-two,  and  until  a  patent  has  been  issued  therefor, 
not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  labor  shall 
be  performed  or  improvements  made  during  each  year. 
On  all  claims  located  prior  to  the  tenth  day  of  May, 
eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-two,  ten  dollars'  worth 
of  labor  shall  be  performed  or  improvements  made 
by  the  tenth  day  of  June,  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventy-four,  and  each  year  thereafter,  for  each  one 
hundred  feet  in  length  along  the  vein,  until  a  patent 
has  been  issued  therefor;  but  where  such  claims 
are  held  in  common,  such  expenditure  may  be  made 
upon  any  one  claim;  and  upon  a  failure  to  comply 
with  these  conditions,  the  claim  or  mine  upon  which  such 
failure  occurred  shall  be  opened  to  relocation  in  the  same 
manner  as  if  no  location  of  the  same  had  ever  been  made; 
Provided,  that  the  original  locators,  their  heirs,  assigns, 
or  legal  representatives,  have  not  resumed  work  upon  the 
claim  after  failure  and  before  such  location.  Upon  the 
failure  of  any  one  of  several  co-owners  to  contribute  his 
proportion  of  the  expenditures  required  hereby,  the  co- 
owners  who  have  performed  the  labor  or  made  the  im- 
provements may,  at  the  expiration  of  the  year,  give  such 
delinquent  co-owner  personal  notice  in  writing  or  notice 
by  publication  in  the  newspaper  published  nearest  the 
claim,  for  at  least  once  a  week  for  ninety  days,  and  if  at 
the  expiration  of  ninety  days  after  such  notice  in  writing 
or  by  publication  such  delinquent  should  fail  or  refuse 
to  contribute  his  proportion  of  the  expenditure  required 
by  this  section,  his  interest  in  the  claim  shall  become  the 
property  of  his  co-owners,  who  have  made  the  expendi- 
tures." 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  145 

Other  sections  of  the  United  States  law  relating  to 
mines  and  mining  are  as  follows: 

"Section  2323.  Where  a  tunnel  is  run  for  the  develop- 
ment of  a  vein  or  lode  or  for  the  discovery  of  mines,  the 
owners  of  such  tunnel  shall  have  the  right  of  possession 
of  all  veins  or  lodes  within  three  thousand  feet  from  the 
face  of  such  tunnel  on  the  line  thereof,  not  previously 
known  to  exist,  discovered  in  such  tunnel,  to  the  same 
extent  as  if  discovered  from  the  surface ;  and  locations  on 
the  line  of  such  tunnels  of  veins  or  lodes,  not  appearing 
on  the  surface,  made  by  other  parties  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  tunnel,  and  while  the  same  is  being 
prosecuted  with  reasonable  diligence,  shall  be  invalid; 
but  failure  to  prosecute  the  work  on  the  tunnel  for  six 
months  shall  be  considered  as  an  abandonment  of  the 
right  to  all  undiscovered  veins  on  the  line  of  such  tunnel." 

"Section  2332.  Where  such  person  or  association, 
they  and  their  grantors,  have  held  and  worked  their 
claims  for  a  period  equal  to  the  time  prescribed  by  the 
statute  of  limitations  for  mining  claims  of  the  state  or 
territory  where  the  same  may  be  situated,  evidence  of 
such  possession  and  working  of  the  claims  for  such  period 
shall  be  sufficient  to  establish  a  right  to  a  patent  thereto 
under  this  chapter,  in  the  absence  of  any  adverse  claim; 
but  nothing  in  this  chapter  shall  be  deemed  to  impair 
any  lien  which  may  have  attached  in  any  way  whatever 
to  any  mining  claim  or  property  thereto  attached  prior 
to  the  issuance  of  a  patent." 

"Section  2326.  Where  an  adverse  claim  is  filed  dur- 
ing the  period  of  publication,  it  shall  be  upon  oath  of  the 
person  or  persons  making  the  same,  and  shall  show  the 
nature,  boundaries,  and  extent  of  such  adverse  claim,  and 
all  proceedings,  except  the  publication  of  notice  and  mak- 
ing and  filing  of  the  affidavit  thereof,  shall  be  stayed 


146  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

until  the  controversy  shall  have  been  settled  or  decided 
by  a  court  of  competent  jurisdiction,  or  the  adverse 
claim  waived.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  adverse  claim- 
ant, within  thirty  days  after  filing  his  claim,  to  com- 
mence proceedings  in  a  court  of  competent  jurisdiction, 
to  determine  the  question  of  the  right  of  possession,  and 
prosecute  the  same  with  reasonable  diligence  to  final 
judgment;  and  a  failure  so  to  do  shall  be  a  waiver  of  his 
adverse  claim.  After  such  judgment  shall  have  been  ren- 
dered the  party  entitled  to  the  possession  of  the  claim, 
or  any  portion  thereof,  may,  without  giving  further  no- 
tice, file  a  certified  copy  of  the  judgment-roll  with  the 
register  of  the  land  ofifice,  together  with  the  certificate 
of  the  surveyor  general  that  the  requisite  amount  of  labor 
has  been  expended  or  improvements  made  thereon,  and 
the  description  required  in  other  cases,  and  shall  pay  to 
the  receiver  five  dollars  per  acre  for  his  claim,  together 
with  the  proper  fees,  whereupon  the  whole  proceedings 
and  the  judgment-roll  shall  be  certified  by  the  register  to 
the  commissioner  of  the  general  land  office,  and  a  patent 
shall  issue  thereon  for  the  claim,  or  such  portion  thereof 
as  the  applicant  shall  appear,  from  the  decision  of  the 
court,  to  rightly  possess.  If  it  appears  from  the  decision 
of  the  court  that  several  parties  are  entitled  to  separate 
and  different  portions  of  the  claim,  each  party  may  pay  for 
his  portion  of  the  claim  with  the  proper  fees  and  file  the 
certificate  and  description  by  the  surveyor  general,  where- 
upon the  register  shall  certify  the  proceedings  and  judg- 
ment-roll to  the  commissioner  of  the  general  land  office, 
as  in  the  preceding  case,  and  patents  shall  issue  to  the 
several  parties  according  to  their  respective  rights.  Noth- 
ing herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to  prevent  the 
alienation  of  a  title  conveyed  by  a  patent  for  a  mining 
claim  to  any  person  whatever." 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS. 


149 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
CANADIAN  MINING  LAWS. 

INERS  in  the  Klondike  region  must 
pay  the  Canadian  government  an  en- 
try fee  of  $15  for  the  first  year,  and 
an  annual  fee  of  $100  for  each  of  the 
following  years.  No  miner  will  re- 
ceive a  grant  for  more  than  one  min- 
ing claim  in  the  same  locality,  but 
the  same  miner  may  hold  any  num- 
ber of  claims  by  purchase. 

The  Dominion  government  pro- 
poses to  charge  a  royalty  for  the  use  of  its  land  by  gold 
miners.  This  royalty  will  amount  to  10  per  cent  on  all 
amounts  taken  out  of  any  one  claim  up  to  $500  a  week, 
and  over  that  output  20  per  cent.  The  royalty  will  be 
collected  on  gold  taken  from  streams  already  being 
worked,  but  in  regard  to  all  future  discoveries,  the  govern- 
ment proposes  that  upon  every  river  and  creek  where 
mining  locations  shall  be  staked  out,  every  alternate  claim 
shall  be  the  property  of  the  crown. 

The  regulations  governing  placer  mining  along  the 
Yukon  river  and  its  tributaries  in  the  Northwest  terri- 
tory, adopted  by  the  Canadian  government,  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

DEFINITIONS: 

BAR  DIGGINGS  shall  mean  any  part  of  a  river  over 
which  the  water  extends  when  the  water  is  in  its  flooded 
state,  and  which  is  not  covered  at  low'  water. 

8 


150  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

MINES  ON  BENCHES  shall  be  known  as  bench 
diggings,  and  shall  for  the  purpose  of  defining  the 
size  of  such  claims  be  excepted  from  dry  diggings. 

DRY  DIGGINGS  shall  mean  any  mine  over  which 
a  river  never  extends. 

MINER  shall  mean  a  male  or  female  over  the  age  of 
1 8,  but  not  under  that  age. 

CLAIMS  shall  mean  the  personal  right  of  property  in 
a  placer  mine  or  diggings  during  the  time  for  which  the 
grant  of  such  mine  or  diggings  is  made. 

LEGAL  POST  shall  mean  a  stake  standing  not  less 
than  four  feet  above  the  ground  and  squared  on  four 
sides  for  at  least  one  foot  from  the  top.  Both  sides  so 
squared  shall  measure  at  least  four  inches  across  the  face. 
It  shall  also  mean  any  stump  or  tree  cut  off  and  squared 
or  faced  to  the  above  height  and  size. 

CLOSE  SEASON  shall  mean  the  period  of  the  year 
during  which  placer  mining  is  generally  suspended.  The 
period  to  be  fixed  by  the  gold  commissioner  in  whose 
district  the  claim  is  situated. 

LOCALITY  shall  mean  the  territory  along  a  river 
(tributary  of  the  Yukon),  and  its  affluents. 

MINERAL  shall  include  all  minerals  whatsoever  other 
than  coal. 


NATURE  AND  SIZE  OF  CLAIMS. 

FIRST — Bar  diggings:  A  strip  of  land  loo  feet  wide 
at  high  watermark  and  thence  extending"  along  into  the 
river  to  its  lovvcst  water  level. 

SECOND — The  sides  of  a  claim  for  bar  diggings  shall 
be  two  parallel  lines  run  as  nearly  as  possible  at  right 
angles  to  the  stream  and  shall  be  marked  by  four  legal 
posts,  one  at  each  end  of  the  claim  at  or  about  high  water- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  151 

mark,  also  one  at  each  end  of  the  claim  at  or  about  the 
edge  of  the  water.  One  of  the  posts  at  high  watermark 
shall  be  legibly  marked  with  the  name  of  the  miner  and 
the  date  upon  which  the  claim  is  staked. 

THIRD — Dry  diggings  shall  be  lOO  feet  square  and 
shall  have  placed  at  each  of  its  four  corners  a  legal  post, 
upon  one  of  which  shall  be  legibly  marked  the  name  of 
the  miner  and  the  date  upon  which  the  claim  was  staked. 

FOURTH — Creek  and  river  claims  shall  be  500  feet 
long,  measured  in  direction  of  the  general  course  of  the 
stream,  and  shall  extend  in  width  from  base  to  base  of 
the  hill  or  bench  on  each  side,  but  when  the  hill  or 
benches  are  less  than  100  feet  apart,  the  claim  may  be 
100  feet  in  depth.  The  sides  of  a  claim  shall  be  two 
parallel  lines  run  as  nearly  as  possible  at  right  angles  to 
the  stream.  The  sides  shall  be  marked  with  legal  posts 
at  or  about  the  edge  of  the  water,  and  at  the  rear  boun- 
daries of  the  claim.  One  of  the  legal  posts  at  the  stream 
shall  be  legibly  marked  with  the  name  of  the  miner  and 
the  date  upon  which  the  claim  was  staked. 

Note. — The  regulation  relating  to  the  length  of  a 
claim  was  amended  Aug.  8,  by  the  dominion  government; 
the  new  regulation  limits  the  length  of  a  claim  to  100 
feet,  running  along  the  stream. 

FIFTH — Bench  claims  shall  be  100  feet  square. 

SIXTH — In  defining  the  size  of  claims,  they  shall  be 
measured  horizontally,  irrespective  of  inequalities  on  the 
surface  of  the  ground. 

SEVENTH — If  any  person  or  persons  shall  discover 
a  new  mine,  and  such  discovery  shall  be  established  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  gold  commissioner,  a  claim  for  the 
bar  diggings  750  feet  in  length  may  be  granted. 

A  new  stratum  of  auriferous  earth  or  gravel  situated  in 
a  locality  where  the  claims  are  abandoned  shall,  for  this 


152  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

purpose,  be  deemed  a  new  mine,  although  the  same  lo- 
caHty  shall  have  previously  been  worked  at  a  different 
level. 

EIGHTH — The  forms  of  application  for  a  grant  for 
placer  mining  and  the  grant  of  the  same  shall  be  those 
contained  in  forms  "H"  and  "I"  in  the  schedule  hereto. 

NINTH — A  claim  shall  be  recorded  with  the  gold  com- 
missioner in  whose  district  it  is  situated  within  three 
days  after  the  location  thereof,  if  it  is  located  within  ten 
miles  of  the  commissioner's  offtce.  One  extra  day  shall 
be  allowed  for  making  such  record  for  every  additional 
ten  miles  and  fraction  thereof. 

TENTH — In  the  event  of  the  absence  of  the  gold 
commissioner  from  his  office,  entry  for  a  claim  may  be 
granted  by  any  person  whom  he  may  appoint  to  perform 
his  duties  in  his  absence. 

ELEVENTH — Entry  shall  not  be  granted  for  a  claim 
which  has  not  been  staked  by  the  applicant  in  person,  in 
the  manner  specified  in  these  regulations.  An  affidavit 
that  the  claim  was  staked  out  by  the  applicant  shall  be 
embodied  in  form  "H"  of  the  schedule  hereto. 

TWELFTH— An  entry  fee  of  $15  shall  be  charged  the 
first  year  and  an  annual  fee  of  $100  for  each  of  the  follow- 
ing years.  This  provision  shall  apply  to  the  locations  for 
which  entries  have  already  been  granted. 

THIRTEENTH— After  the  recording  of  a  claim,  the 
removal  of  any  post  by  the  holder  thereof,  or  any  person 
acting  in  his  behalf,  for  the  purpose  of  changing  the  boun- 
daries of  his  claim,  shall  act  as  a  forfeiture  of  the  claim. 

FOURTEENTH — The  entry  of  every  holder  for  a 
grant  for  placer  mining  must  be  renewed,  and  his  receipt 
relinquished  and  replaced  every  year,  the  entry  fee  being 
paid  each  year. 

FIFTEENTH — No  miner  shall  receive  a  grant  for 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  153 

more  than  one  mining  claim  in  the  same  locality;  but  the 
same  miner  may  hold  any  number  of  claims  by  purchase, 
and  any  number  of  miners  may  unite  to  work  their  claims 
in  common  upon  such  terms  as  they  may  arrange,  pro- 
vided such  agreement  be  registered  with  the  gold  com- 
missioner and  a  fee  of  $5  paid  for  each  registration. 

SIXTEENTH — Any  miner  or  miners  may  sell,  mort- 
gage, or  dispose  of  his  or  their  claims,  provided  such  dis- 
posal be  registered  with,  and  a  fee  of  $2  paid  to  the  gold 
commissioner,  who  shall  thereupon  give  the  assignee  a 
certificate  in  form  "J"  in  the  schedule  hereto. 

SEVENTEEXTH— Every  miner  shall,  during  the 
continuance  of  his  grant,  have  the  exclusive  right  of  entry 
upon  his  own  claim  for  the  miner-like  working  thereof, 
and  the  construction  of  a  residence  thereon,  and  shall 
be  entitled  exclusively  to  all  the  proceeds  realized  there- 
from ;  but  he  shall  have  no  surface  rights  therein,  and  the 
gold  commissioner  may  grant  to  the  holders  of  adjacent 
claims  such  rights  of  entry  thereon  as  may  be  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  working  of  their  claims,  upon  such 
terms  as  may  to  him  seem  reasonable.  He  may  also 
grant  permits  to  miners  to  cut  timber  thereon  for  their 
own  use,  upon  payment  of  the  dues  prescribed  by  the 
regulations  in  that  behalf. 

EIGHTEENTH— Every  miner  shall  be  entitled  to  the 
use  of  so  much  of  the  water  naturally  flowing  through  or 
past  his  claim,  and  not  already  lawfully  appropriated,  as 
shall  in  the  opinion  of  the  gold  commissioner,  be  neces- 
sary for  the  due  working  thereof,  and  shall  be  entitled  to 
drain  his  own  claim  free  of  charge. 

XIXETEEXTH— A  claim  shall  be  deemed  to  be  aban- 
doned and  open  to  occupation  and  entry  by  any  per- 
son when  the  same  shall  have  remained  unworked  on 
working  days  by  the  grantee  thereof  or  by  some  person 


154  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

on  his  behalf  for  the  space  of  seventy-two  hours,  unless 
sickness  or  other  reasonable  cause  may  be  shown  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  gold  commissioner,  or  unless  the  gran- 
tee is  absent  on  leave  given  by  the  commissioner,  and  the 
gold  commissioner,  upon  obtaining  evidence  satisfactory 
to  himself  that  this  provision  is  not  being  complied  with, 
may  cancel  the  entry  given  for  a  claim. 

TWENTIETH — If  the  land  upon  which  a  claim  has 
been  located  is  not  the  property  of  the  crown  it  will  be 
necessary  for  the  person  who  applies  for  entry  to  furnish 
proof  that  he  has  acquired  from  the  owner  of  the  land 
the  surface  right  before  entry  can  be  granted. 

TWENTY-FIRST— If  the  occupier  of  the  lands  has 
not  received  a  patent  therefor,  the  purchase  money  of 
the  surface  rights  must  be  paid  to  the  crovv'n,  and  a  patent 
of  the  surface  rights  will  issue  to  the  party  who  acquired 
the  mining  rights.  The  money  so  collected  will  either  be 
refunded  to  the  occupier  of  the  land  when  he  is  entitled 
to  a  patent  therefor,  or  will  be  credited  to  him  on  account 
of  payment  for  land. 

TWENTY-SECOND— When  the  party  obtaining  the 
mining  rights  cannot  make  an  arrangement  with  the 
owner  thereof  for  the  acquisition  of  the  surface  rights  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  him  to  give  notice  to  the  owner  or 
his  agent,  or  the  occupier  to  appoint  an  arbitrator  to 
act  with  another  arbitrator  named  by  him  in  order  to 
award  the  amount  of  compensation  to  which  the  owner 
or  occupant  shall  be  entitled.  The  notice  mentioned  in 
this  section  shall  be  according  to  form  to  be  obtained 
upon  application  from  the  gold  commissioner  for  the  dis- 
trict in  which  the  lands  in  question  lie,  and  shall,  when 
practicable,  be  personally  served  on  such  owner  or  his 
agent,  if  known,  or  occupant,  and  after  reasonable  efforts 
have  been  made  to  effect  personal  service  without  sue- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  155 

cess,  then  swoh  notice  shall  be  served  upon  the  owner  or 
agent  within  a  period  to  be  fixed  by  the  gold  commis- 
sioner before  the  expiration  of  the  time  limited  in  such 
notice.  If  the  proprietor  refuses  or  declines  to  appoint 
an  arbitrator,  or  when,  for  any  other  reason,  no  arbitrator 
is  appointed  by  the  proprietor  in  the  time  limited  there- 
for in  the  notice  provided  by  this  section,  the  gold  com- 
missioner for  the  district  in  which  the  lands  in  question 
lie  shall,  on  being  satisfied  by  affidavit  that  such  notice 
has  come  to  the  knowledge  of  such  owner,  agent  or  oc- 
cupant, or  that  such  owner,  agent  or  occupant,  willfully 
evades  the  service  of  such  notice,  or  cannot  be  found,  and 
that  reasonable  efforts  have  been  made  to  effect  such  ser- 
vice, and  that  the  notice  was  left  at  the  last  place  of 
abode  of  such  owner,  agent  or  occupant,  appoint  an  ar- 
bitrator on  his  behalf.  ^ 

TWENTY-THIRD— (a)  All  arbitrators  appointed  un- 
der the  authority  of  these  regulations  shall  be  sworn  be- 
fore a  justice  of  the  peace  to  the  impartial  discharge  of  the 
duties  assigned  to  them,  and  they  shall  forthwith  proceed 
to  estimate  the  reasonable  damages  which  the  owner  or 
occupant  of  such  lands  according  to  their  several  interests 
therein  shall  sustain  by  reason  of  such  prospecting  and 
mining  operations. 

(b)  In  estimating  such  dam.ages  the  arbitrators  shall 
determine  the  value  of  the  land,  irrespectively  of  any  en- 
hancement thereof  from  the  existence  of  mineral  therein. 

(c)  In  case  such  arbitrators  cannot  agree  they  may  select 
a  third  arbitrator,  and  when  the  two  arbitrators  cannot 
agree  upon  a  third  arbitrator,  the  gold  commissioner  for 
the  district  in  which  the  lands  in  question  lie  shall  select 
such  third  arbitrator. 

(d)  The  award  of  any  two  such  arbitrators  made  in 


156  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

writing  shall  be  final,  and  shall  be  filed  \\  itli  the  golJ  com- 
missioner for  the  district  in  which  the  lands  lie. 

If  any  cases  arise  for  which  no  provision  is  made  in 
these  regulations,  the  provisions  of  the  regulations  gov- 
erning the  disposal  of  mineral  lands  other  than  coal  lands 
approved  by  his  excellency  the  governor  in  council  on 
the  9th  of  November,  1889,  shall  apply. 


CERTIFICATE  OF  ASSIGNMENT  OF  A  PLACER 

MINING  CLAIM. 
Form  "J." 
No 

Department  of  the  Interior. 

Agency 18.  . . . 

This  is  to  certify  that  (B.  C.)  has  (or  have)  filed  an  as- 
signment in  due  form  dated 18.  . .  . 

and  accompanied  by  a  registration  fee  of  two  dollars,  of 

the  grant  to (A.  B.)  of 

of  the  right  to  mine  in 

(insert  description  of  claim)  for 

one  year  from 18 ...  . 

This  certificate  entitles  the  said 

(B.  C.)  to  all  rights  and  privileges  of  the  said 

(A.  B.)  in  respect  of  the  claim  assigned,  that  is  to  say,  the 
exclusive  right  of  entry  upon  the  said  claim  for  the  miner- 
like working  thereof  and  the  construction  of  a  residence 
thereon,  and  the  exclusive  right  to  all  proceeds  there- 
from for  the  remaining  portion  of  the  year  for  which 

said  claim  was  granted  to  the  said 

(A.  B.),  that  is  to  say,  until  the 18 

The  said  (B.  C.)  shall  be  en- 
titled to  the  use  of  so  much  of  the  water  naturally  flowing 


\\    k  \  \ 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  16» 

through  or  past  his  (or  their)  claim,  and  not  already  law- 
fully appropriated,  as  shall  be  necessary  for  the  due  work- 
ing thereof,  and  to  drain  the  claim  free  of  charge. 

This  grant  does  not  convey  to  the  said 

(B.  C)  any  surface  rights  in  said  claim 

or  any  rights  of  ownership  in  the  soil  covered  by  the  said 
claim,  and  the  said  grant  shall  lapse  and  be  forfeited  un- 
less the  claim  is  continually  and  in  good  faith  worked 
by  the  said  (B.  C.)  or  his  (or  their)  associates. 

The  rights  hereby  granted  are  those  laid  down  in  the 
Dominion  Mining  Regulations,  and  are  subject  to  all 
provisions  of  the  said  regulations  whether  the  same  are 
expressed  herein  or  not. 


Gold  Commissioner. 


APPLICATION  FOR  GRANT  FOR  PLACER  MIN- 
ING CLAIM  AND  AFFIDAVIT  OF 
APPLICANT. 

Form  "H." 

I,  (or  we)  of hereby  apply 

under  the  Dominion  Mining  Regulations  for  grant  of  a 
claim  for  placer  mining  as  defined  in  the  said  regulations 

in (here  describe  locality) 

and  I  (or  we)  solemnly  swear: 

First — That  I  (or  we)  am  (or  are)  to  the  best  of  my 
(or  our)  knowledge  and  belief,  the  first  discoverer  (or  dis- 
coverers) of  the  said  deposit,  or 

Second — That  the  said  claim  was  previously  granted 

to (here  name  the  last  grantee),  but  has  re- 

m.ained  unworked  by  the  said  grantee  for  not  less  than 


160  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

Third — That  I  (or  vvc)  am  (or  are)  unaware  that  the 
land  is  other  than  vacant  Dominion  lands. 

Fourth — That  I  (or  we)  did  on  the day 

of mark  out  on  the  ground  in  accordance 

in  every  particular  with  the  provisions  of  the  mining 
regulations  for  the  Yukon  river  and  its  tributaries,  the 
claim  for  which  I  (or  we)  make  this  application,  and  that 
in  so  doing  I  (or  we)  did  not  encroach  on  any  other  claim 
or  mining  location  previously  laid  out  by  any  other  per- 
son. 

Fifth — That  the  said  claim  contains  as  nearly  as  I  (or 

we)  could  measure  or  estimate  an  area  of 

square  feet,  and  that  the  description  (and  sketch,  if  any) 
of  this  date  hereto  attached  signed  by  me  (or  us)  sets  (or 
set)  forth  in  detail  to  the  best  of  my  (or  our)  knowledge 
and  ability  its  position,  form  and  dimensions. 

Sixth — That  I  (or  we)  make  this  application  in  good 
faith  to  acquire  the  claim  for  the  sole  purpose  of  mining, 
prosecuted  by  myself  (or  us),  or  by  myself  and  associates, 
or  by  my  (or  our)  assigns. 

Sworn  before  me 

At this   day  of 

i8.... 

(Signature) 


GRANT  FOR  PLACER  CLAIM. 

Form  "L" 

Department  of  the  Interior. 

Agency i8.  . .  . 

In  consideration  of  the  payment  of  the  fee  prescribed 
by  clause  12  of  the  mining  regulations  of  the  Yukon  river 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  161 

and   its   tributaries   by    (A.   B.) 

accompanying  his  (or  their)  appHcation  No 

dated   i8.  . .  .  for  a  mining  claim 

in (here  insert  description  of  local- 
ity), the  minister  of  the  interior  hereby  grants  to  the  said 

(A.  B.)  for  the  term  of  one 

year  from  the  date  hereof  the  exclusive  right  of  entry 
upon  the  claim  (here  describe  in  detail  the  claim). 

Granted — For  the  miner-like  working  thereof  and  the 
construction  of  a  residence  thereon,  and  the  exclusive 
right  to  all  the  proceeds  derived  therefrom.     That  the 

said  (A.  B.)  shall  be  entitled  to 

the  use  of  so  much  water  naturally  flowing  through  or 
past  his  (or  their)  claim  and  not  already  lawfully  appro- 
priated as  shall  be  necessary  for  the  due  working  thereof, 
and  to  drain  his  (or  their)  claim  free  of  charge. 

This  grant  does  not  convey  to  the  said 

(A.  B.)  any  surface  right  in  the  said  claim  or  any  right  of 
ownership  in  the  soil  covered  by  the  said  claim,  and  the 
said  grant  shall  lapse  and  be  forfeited  unless  the  claim  is 
continuously  and  in  good  faith  worked  by  the  said 
(A.  B.)  or  his  (or  their)  asso- 
ciates. 

The  rights  hereby  granted  are  those  laid  down  in  the 
aforesaid  mining  regulations  and  no  more,  and  are  sub- 
ject to  all  the  provisions  of  the  said  regulations,  whether 
the  same  are  expressed  herein  or  not. 


Gold  Commissioner. 


162  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

CHAPTER  IX. 
RICHNESS  OF  THE  PLACER  MINES. 

IILLIAM  D.  JOHNS  of  Chicago,  a 
special  correspondent  of  the  CHI- 
CAGO RECORD,  who  has  been  in 
Alaska  for  two  years,  was  at  Circle 
City,  Alaska,  when  the  news  of  the 
gold  strike  of  the  Klondike  reached 
the  miners  of  that  town.  His  letter, 
detailing  the  richness  of  the  field,  and 
telling  of  the  hardships  and  successes 
of  the  prospectors,  was  the  first  letter  from  a  newspaper 
correspondent  to  reach  the  outside  world.  It  was 
brought  to  San  Francisco  by  the  Excelsior,  the  vessel 
which  brought  the  first  of  the  returning  and  successful 
miners  home.     It  was  as  follows: 

"Fourteen  miles  from  Dawson  City,  twelve  miles  up 
Bonanza  creek,  which  empties  into  the  Klondike  river 
one  and  one-half  miles  from  the  Yukon,  gold  was  dis- 
covered by  'Siwash'  George  Carmack  and  his  two  In- 
dian brothers-in-law  last  August.  The  credit  for  the  dis- 
covery really  belongs  to  the  Indians.  A  stampede  from 
Circle  City,  Forty  Mile  and  other  camps  was  the  result 
of  this  find,  but  few  had  much  faith  in  the  new  region 
even  after  they  were  on  the  ground,  and  in  spite  of  the 
rich  prospects  on  the  surface  it  was  generally  regarded 
as  a  *grub-stake'  strike  on  which  any  one  might  succeed 
in  getting  a  winter  outfit. 

"A  little  later,  however,  the  prospects  found  on  the  river 
called    forth  the    half-skeptical    remark    that  *if  it  goes 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  163 

down  it  is  the  greatest  thing  on  earth.'  Then  a  few 
began  to  beHeve  in  the  new  diggings,  but  many  old 
miners  even  yet  would  not  stake  out  claims,  thiulcing 
the  creek  too  wide  for  gold.  A  number  of  side  gulches 
along  the  Bonanza  were  staked,  among  them  El  Dorado, 
which  was  rich  in  gravel  near  the  mouth.  But  so  little 
faith  was  manifested  in  the  region  that  claim  holders 
could  not  get  'grub'  from  the  stores  in  exchange  for 
their  prospects.  There  was  a  general  fear  that  these 
might  be  only  'skim  diggings.' 

"In  December  bed  rock  was  reached  on  No.  14  El  Dora- 
do and  fabulously  rich  pay  dirt  was  found.  Then  more 
h.oles  went  down  in  a  hurry.  Everywhere  Avere  discov- 
ered prospects  on  bed  rock  ranging  from  $5  to  $150  to 
the  pan.  The  gold  was  nearly  all  coarse.  Still  the  great- 
ness of  the  strike  was  not  realized.  Some  of  the  best 
claims  were  sold  by  their  owners  for  a  few  hundreds  or  a 
few  thousands.  Drifting  was  carried  on  by  the  usual 
winter  process  of  "burning,"  and  the  pay  dirt  taken  out 
as  rapidly  as  possible  under  the  difficulties  of  intense 
cold. 

"Pans  as  rich  as  $500  were  discovered,  and  nuggets  con- 
taining gold  worth  as  high  as  $235  were  brought  to  light. 
Claims  jumped  up  enormously  in  price,  but  still  many 
men  sold  for  a  small  part  of  the  value  of  their  holdings. 
They  seemed  w^holly  unable  to  realize  their  good  for- 
tune. Doubts  were  still  expressed  about  the  dumps  hold- 
ing out  to  the  prospects. 

"Then  the  test — sluicing — came  in  the  spring  when  the 
ice  melted  and  the  water  ran  down  from  the  hills.  Then 
the  wildest  hopes  of  the  toiling  miners  were  realized. 
Despite  the  lateness  of  commencing  work  and  the 
scarcity  of  men  about  $1,500,000  was  taken  out  of  El 
Dorado  alone.     On  some  of  the  richer  claims  men  who 


164  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

secured  ground  to  work  on  shares — 50  per  cent — cleared 
$5,000  to  $10,000  apiece  in  from  thirty  days'  to  two 
months'  drifting.  As  high  as  $150,000  was  drifted  out 
of  one  claim,  the  other  sums  being  less.  From  seventy- 
five  feet  of  ground  on  Nos.  25  and  26,  El  Dorado,  $1 12,- 
000  was  taken,  or  $1,500  per  running  foot,  and  the  pay 
not  cross-cut,  for  it  frequently  runs  from  vein  to  vein, 
being  in  places  150  feet  wnde. 

"Ground  has  sold  here  this  spring  for  over  $1,000  a 
running  foot,  or  at  the  rate  of  $500,000  for  a  claim  of 
500  feet.  Men  on  whose  judgment  reliance  can  be  placed 
and  who  base  their  opinion  on  what  their  own  ground 
and  that  of  others  has  yielded,  tell  me  that  there  are 
claims  here  from  which  over  $1,000,000  will  come.  Last 
winter  men  on  'lays'  (percentage)  left  50-cent  dirt 
because  they  had  better  in  sight  and  only  a  limited  time 
before  spring  to  get  out  ore.  Owing  to  the  large  number 
of  the  men  on  'lays'  the  production  of  almost  every  claim 
is  known,  and  no  overstatement  is  possible,  since  so 
many  are  interested  in  the  amount  of  gold  produced.  As 
soon  as  sluicing  was  fairly  under  way  the  price  of  claims 
jumped  again  and  but  few  would  sell.  It  might  almost 
be  said  that  no  one  would  part  with  a  claim  on  El  Dorado. 

"On  Bonanza,  where  the  pay,  except  on  a  few  claims, 
is  not  as  rich  as  on  El  Dorado,  owners  who  had  looked 
in  vain  for  the  $5,  $10  and  $150  pans,  which  were  plen- 
tiful on  the  rival  creek,  w^ere  disgusted  with  their  moder- 
ate gains  and  were  willing  to  sell.  Thus  many  claims 
having  20  to  50  cent  dirt  and  three  to  seven  feet  of  it 
were  sold.  On  the  boat  which  takes  this  letter  down 
the  Yukon  will  be  many  men,  some  of  them  having  been 
in  this  country  only  a  few  months  when  the  strike  was 
made,  who  will  take  with  them  to  the  mint  from  $10,000 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  165 

to  $500,000,  the  result  either  of  working  the  ground  or 
of  selHng  out. 

"The  men  who  sold  were  paid  ahnost  entirely  out  of 
their  own  ground,  the  men  who  bought  taking  the  dumps 
and  these,  when  sluiced,  paying  for  the  claims  and  leav- 
ing a  handsome  margin  for  the  purchasers.  In  some 
instances  enough  gold  was  rocked  out  to  make  a  first 
payment  on  the  claims  before  sluicing  was  possible. 
Many  of  these  men,  to  my  personal  knowledge,  had 
neither  money  nor  credit  to  get  'grub'  last  fall. 

"But  those  chances  are  of  the  past;  let  no  one  imagine 
that  they  still  exist.  Claims  are  held  by  their  owners 
now  up  in  the  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  those  of  less 
desirable  quality  are  dear  in  proportion.  To  get  a  bar- 
gain in  a  claim  is  impossible  at  this  stage  of  the  fever 
here.  One  might  as  well  stand  on  State  street  now  and 
think  of  getting  the  Palmer  house  lot  at  a  low  rate,  be- 
cause at  some  time  in  the  past  it  was  sold  for  a  song. 
The  value  of  claims  is  now  clearly  known.  ]\Iost  of 
them  have  passed  into  second  hands,  the  present  owners 
paying  for  them  in  many  cases  $20,000,  $30,000  or  $50,- 
000,  and  holding  and  working  them  as  straight  business 
propositions. 

"That  there  will  be  other  fields  of  gold  in  other  creeks 
is  likely,  but  as  El  Dorado  is  one  of  those  strikes  that 
are  made  only  once  in  about  a  quarter  of  a  century,  it  is 
extremely  unlikely  that  another  will  be  found  in  this 
region.  As  the  capacity  of  the  river  steamers  is  limited, 
and  is  likely  to  be  taxed  to  the  utmost  this  year  to  supply 
the  necessities  of  those  now  here,  or  already  coming  in, 
with  the  rigors  of  the  arctic  winter  before  them,  and 
no  provisions,  and  after  September  no  way  of  getting 
out  where  they  may  be  had,  those  thinking  of  coming 
here,  attracted  by  the  marvelous  richness  of  the  strike, 


1G6  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

cannot  be  too  strongly  cautioned  against  making  the  at- 
tempt this  season.  They  can  gain  nothing,  and  may 
suffer  much. 

"The  Klondike  is  a  stream  emptying  into  the  Yukon, 
eighty  miles  above  the  boundary  line  of  Alaska,  in  the 
British  Northwest  territory.  It  is  supposed  to  be  about 
125  miles  long,  heading  in  the  Rockies,  and  is  a  rapid 
river  running  in  a  northerly  direction.  Bonanza  ;reek, 
coming  in  one  and  one-half  miles  up  from  the  mouth,  is 
twenty-five  miles  long,  and  heads  at  the  Dome,  a  big 
bold  hill,  as  do  a  number  of  lesser  creeks.  It  runs  south- 
westerly. El  Dorado  comes  in  twelve  miles  up,  and  is 
seven  miles  long,  running  in  the  same  general  direction 
as  does  Bonanza. 

"The  pay  on  Bonanza  is  good  from  the  6o's  below 
the  point  of  discover}-,  where  one  claim  has  20  and  25 
cent  dirt,  with  the  pay  125  feet  wide,  up  to  No.  43 
above,  claim  No.  41  being  very  rich.  Gold  on  Bonanza 
is  finer  than  that  on  El  Dorado.  There  is  not  a  blank  up 
to  No.  38,  and  there  are  some  good  claims  above  that 
number.  The  richest  claims  are  in  the  middle  of  the 
gulch,  the  gold  there  being  coarse,  with  lots  of  nuggets. 
This,  with  the  fractions  of  claims,  makes  nearly  twenty 
miles  of  paying  ground. 

"In  addition  there  are  a  number  of  side  gulches  on 
which  good  prospects  have  been  discovered.  Bonanza 
district,  it  is  estimated,  is  likely  to  produce  not  less  than 
$50,000,000  in  gold,  and  this  is  believed  to  be  an  under- 
estimate than  otherwise.  Hunker  creek  empties  into  the 
Klondike  twelve  miles  up  and  is  twenty  miles  long.  In 
places  $2  and  $3  to  the  pan  on  bedrock  have  been  found, 
and  the  indications  are  that  it  will  prove  a  rich-paying 
creek. 

"Gold  Bottom,  a  fork,  and  I^st  Chance,  a  side  gulch, 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  16» 

show  up  equally  well  for  a  considerable  distance.  These 
comprise,  with  Bear  creek,  which  comes  into  the  Klon- 
dike between  Bonanza  and  Hunker,  the  extent  of  terri- 
tory of  which  anything  certain  is  known.  Quartz  creek 
and  Indian  creek"  are  reached  from  the  heads  of  Bonanza 
and  Hunker  and  they  have  also  some  prospects.  The 
country  rock  is  slate  and  mica  schist.  Many  of  the  nug- 
gets are  full  of  quartz.  Iron  rock  is  found  with  them, 
and  pieces  of  stratified  rock  containing  iron  are  found 
showing  plainly  on  their  sides  the  matrices  of  gold  nug- 
gets. SomxC  fair  gold-bearing  quartz  has  been  discovered, 
but  no  rich,  free  gold-bearing  rock  in  place.  The  mineral 
belt  seems  to  run  northeast  and  southwest,  if  one  may 
judge  from  the  creeks,  and  to  be  about  ten  miles  wide. 
It  seems  to  parallel  the  main  range  of  mountains  about 
lOO  miles  distant  from  it. 

"There  are  both  summer  and  winter  diggings  on  all  the 
creeks,  as  some  of  the  claims  are  capable  of  being  both 
drifted  and  sluiced.  Some  summer  drifting  is  also  done. 
Wages,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  men  last  winter,  were  $15 
a  day  at  the  diggings,  but  they  are  Hkely  to  fall  very  soon. 
The  price  of  flour  at  Dawson  City  last  winter  was  $1  a 
pound,  and  this  spring  the  trading  companies  advanced 
their  prices  in  some  cases  50  per  cent.  Canned  meats 
were  sold  at  75  cents  a  can. 

"Meals  were  charged  for  at  the  rate  of  $1.50  apiece. 
Whisky  was  the  same  old  price — 50  cents  a  drink.  Lum- 
ber, when  it  can  be  had,  is  $130  a  thousand  feet.  The 
price  for  sawing  at  the  mills  is  $100  a  thousand  feet,  the 
logs  being  furnished  by  the  purchaser.  Beds  or  lodgings 
are  not  to  be  had.  If  you  can't  find  a  place  in  some  tent 
where  you  may  sleep  you  may  try  the  saloon  floors,  of 
which  places  there  are  a  number.  Good  river-front  lots 
in  the  center  of  the  town  may  be  purchased  at  from 
9 


170  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

$3,000  to  $5,000  each.  These  same  lots  sold  last  fall  at 
$5  apiece. 

"The  richness  and  extent  of  the  diggings  are  such  that 
if  they  were  in  any  place  less  inaccessible  than  this,  doubt- 
less the  stampede  to  them  would  be  tremendous,  but  a 
great  influx  of  gold-hunters  at  this  time  would  be  a 
calamity.  The  Canadian  government  has  sent  in  another 
detachment  of  police  and  also  a  judge  and  a  gold  com- 
missioner, who,  with  the  customs  officer,  constitute  the 
governing  force.  Owing  to  the  impossibility  of  escape 
from  the  country  such  of  the  criminal  element  as  has 
come  in  thus  far  is  very  quiet  and  peaceable. 

"Outside  of  a  little  stealing  of  provisions  and  similar 
petty  offenses  there  is  no  crime.  There  are  but  a  few 
places  where  supplies  can  be  had  in  all  this  vast  coun- 
try, and  any  offender  is  certain  therefore  of  being  caught 
and  punished.  Though  gold  has  been  sitting  around  in 
the  cabins  for  months  in  lard  pails,  baking-powder  cans, 
old  boot  legs  and  buckets,  no  thefts  have  been  com- 
mitted. 

"What  the  country  needs  above  all  things  is  communi- 
cation with  the  outside  world.  If  the  government  at 
Washington  would  make  some  arrangement  whereby 
the  Canadians  could  get  a  port  of  entry  on  the  disputed 
part  of  the  coast  it  would  be  a  great  boon  to  Alaska 
as  well  as  to  this  part  of  the  Northwest  territory.  Most 
of  the  men  who  'hit  it'  are  Americans,  whose  gold  will 
go  to  San  Francisco  and  the  United  States.  Because  of 
the  lack  of  adequate  communication  with  the  civilized 
world  the  miners  are  in  constant  fear  lest  supplies  should 
give  out. 

"Many  articles  can  be  had  but  for  a  limited  time  after 
the  arrival  of  a  steamer,  and  those  who  are  not  fortunate 
enough  to  get  a  supply  at  that  time  must  do  without  for 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  171 

weeks  and  months,  no  matter  how  much  gold  they  may 
have  to  make  purchases  with.  The  scarcity  may  be 
one  of  provisions,  window  sashes  or  gimi  boots,  but  al- 
ways there  is  a  scarcity  here  of  some  important  article. 

''Generally  there  is  never  enough  of  anything,  and  only 
the  opening  up  of  comnumication  with  the  coast  by  some 
other  route  than  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon  offers  any  pros- 
pect of  adequate  relief.  If  the  Canadians  had  a  port  of 
entry  they  would  have  commerce  coming  down  the  river 
from  the  direction  of  Juneau,  and  the  country  would 
not  be  dependent  upon  the  scanty  supplies  coming  1.900 
miles  up  the  Yukon  from  Bering  sea." 

Since  this  letter  was  written  reports  from  Dawson  City 
indicate  that  the  "rush"  to  the  gold  diggings  has  glut- 
ted the  labor  market  and  day  labor  is  quoted  at  low 
figures.  It  is  reported  that  wages  range  from  $2  to  $3 
a  day. 

One  of  the  "most  meaty"  letters  that  have  come  from 
the  Yukon  was  written  by  Arthur  Perry,  a  well-known 
and  reliable  Seattle  mian,  who  is  now  at  Dawson  City. 
It  is  dated  Dawson  City,  June  18,  and  reads  in  full  as  fol- 
lows: 

"The  first  discovery  of  gold  on  the  Klondike  v^'as  made 
the  middle  of  August,  1896,  by  George  Carmack  on  a 
creek  emptying  into  the  Klondike  from  the  south,  called 
by  the  Indians  Bonanza.  He  found  $1.60  to  the  pan  on 
a  high  rim,  and  after  making  the  find  known  at  Forty 
JNIile  went  back  with  two  Indians  and  took  out  $1,400  in 
three  weeks  with  three  sluice  boxes.  The  creek  was  soon 
staked  from  one  end  to  the  other  and  all  the  small  gulches 
were  also  staked  and  recorded.  About  Sept.  10  a  man 
of  the  name  of  Whipple  prospected  a  creek  emptying 
into  Bonanza  on  No.  7,  above  discovery,  and  named  it 
Whipple  creek.    He  shortly  afterwards  sold  out  and  the 


172  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

miners  renamed  it  Ei  Dorado.  Prospects  as  high  as  $4  to 
the  pan  were  found  early  in  the  fall.  Many  of  the  old 
miners  from  Forty  Mile  went  there  and  would  not  stake, 
saying  the  willows  did  not  lean  the  right  way  and  the 
w^ater  did  not  taste  right,  and  that  it  was  a  moose  pasture, 
it  being  wide  and  flat.  Both  creeks  were  staked  princi- 
pally by  'chechacoes'  (new  men  in  the  country),  and  early 
as  they  could  get  provisions,  about  250  men  went  there 
and  commenced  prospecting  by  sinking  holes  to  the 
depth  of  from  9  to  24  feet,  doing  so  by  burning  down,  as 
the  ground  was  frozen  solid  to  bed  rock.  Nov.  23  a  man 
of  the  name  of  Louis  Rhodes  located  on  Xo.  21,  above  on 
Bonanza,  got  as  high  as  $65.30  to  the  pan. 

"This  was  the  first  big  pan  of  any  importance,  and  the 
news  spread  up  and  down  the  creek  like  wildfire.  This 
news  reached  Circle  City,  300  miles  farther  down  the 
Yukon  river,  but  nobody  would  believe  it.  Soon  after 
large  pans  were  found  on  both  Bonanza  and  El  Dorado, 
and  each  creek  was  tr\'ing  to  outrival  the  other,  until  a 
man  of  the  name  of  Clarence  Berry  got  $100  to  the  pan. 
From  that  time  on  El  Dorado  held  a  high  position.  ^lany 
claims  from  the  mouth  up  for  a  distance  of  three  miles 
got  large  pans — until  they  reached  as  high  as  $280. 

"About  ]\Iarch  15,  1897,  I  reached  the  diggings  from 
Circle  City,  having  hauled  my  sled  the  wdiole  distance 
without  a  dog.  The  importance  of  the  new  strike  had 
become  too  significant  to  be  overlooked,  and  about  300 
men  from  Circle  City  undertook  the  journey  in  midwin- 
ter. Such  an  exodus  was  never  known  before  in  the 
history  of  the  Yukon,  but  not  a  man  lost  his  life,  although 
several  had  their  faces  and  toes  nipped  at  times.  Even 
some  of  the  most  resolute  and  dissolute  women  made  the 
journey  in  safety.  Fancy  prices  were  paid  for  dogs  by 
those  who  were  able  to  purchase,  and  as  high  as  $175  and 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  173 

even  $200  were  paid  for  good  dogs.  Almost  any  kind  of 
a  dog  was  worth  $50  and  $75  each. 

"When  I  first  reached  the  new  camp  I  was  invited  by 
the  butcher  boys — Murph  Thorp  of  Jimeau  and  George 
Stewart  from  Stuck  Valley,  Wash. — to  go  down  in  their 
shaft  and  pick  a  pan  of  dirt,  as  they  had  just  struck  the 
rich  streak.  To  my  surprise  it  was  $282.50.  In  fourteen 
pans  of  dirt  they  took  out  $1,565  right  in  the  bottom  of 
the  shaft,  which  was  4  by  8  feet. 

"March  20  Clarence  Berry  took  out  over  $300  to  the 
pan.  Jimmy  MacLanie  took  out  over  $200  to  the  pan; 
Frank  Phiscater  took  out  $135  to  the  pan.  The  four 
boys  from  Nanaimo  took  as  high  as  $125  to  the  pan. 
They  wefe  the  first  men  to  get  a  hole  down  to  bedrock 
on  El  Dorado  and  found  good  pay.  They  had  Nos.  14 
and  15. 

"In  fact,  big  pans  were  being  taken  on  nearly  every 
claim  on  the  creek,  until  $100  and  $200  pans  were  com- 
mon. April  13  Clarence  Berry  took  in  one  pan  39  ounces 
— $495 — and  in  two  days  panned  out  over  $1,200.  April 
14  we  heard  some  boys  on  No.  30  El  Dorado  had  struck 
it  rich  and  taken  out  $800  in  one  pan.  This  was  the  ban- 
ner pan  of  the  creek,  and  Charles  Myers,  who  had  the 
ground  on  a  lay,  told  me  that  if  he  had  wanted  to  pick  the 
dirt  he  could  have  taken  100  ounces  just  as  easy. 

"Jimmy  MacLanie  took  out  $11,000  during  the  winter 
just  in  prospecting  the  dirt.  Clarence  Berry  and  his  part- 
ner, Anton  Strander,  panned  out  about  the  same  in  the 
same  manner.  Mrs.  Berry  used  to  go  down  to  the  dumps 
every  day  and  get  dirt  and  carr}'  it  to  the  shanty  and  pan 
it  herself.  She  has  over  $6,000  taken  out  in  that  man- 
ner. 

"Mr.  Lippy,  from  Seattle,  has  a  rich  claim  and  his  wife 
has  a  sack  of  nuggets  alone  of  v$6,ooo  that  she  has  picked 


174  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

Up  on  the  dumps.  When  the  dumps  were  washed  in  the 
spring  the  dirt  yielded  better  than  was  expected.  Four 
boys  on  a  lay,  No.  2  El  Dorado,  took  out  $49,000  in  two 
months.  Frank  Phiscater,  who  owned  the  ground  and 
had  some  men  hired,  cleaned  up  $94,000  for  the  winter. 
Mr.  Lippy,  so  I  am  told,  has  cleaned  up  for  the  winter 
$54,000.  Louis  Rhodes,  No.  21  Bonanza,  has  cleaned 
up  $40,000.  Clarence  Berry  and  Anton  Strander  have 
cleaned  up  $130,000  for  the  winter. 

"Enclosed  are  the  names  of  some  of  the  boys  who 
are  going  out  on  this  boat,  with  the  approximate 
amounts: 

Ben  Wall,  Swede,  Tacoma $50,000 

William  Carlson,  Swede,  Tacoma 50,000 

Wm.  Sloan,  Englishman,  Nanaimo 50,000 

John  Wilkerson,   English,  Nanaimo 50,000 

Jim  Clemens,  American,  California 50,000 

Frank  Keller,  American^  California 35,ooo 

Sam  Collej,  Icelander 25,000 

Stewart  and  Hollenshead,  California 45,000 

Charles  Myers  and  partner,  Arizona 22,000 

Johnny  Marks,  Englishman 10,000 

Alex  Orr,  Englishman 10,000 

Fred  Price,  American,  Seattle 15,000 

Fred   Latisceura,    Frenchman 10,000 

Tim  Bell,  American 31,000 

William  Hayes,  Irish-American 35,ooo 

Dick  ]\IcNulty,  Irish-American 20,000 

Jake  Halterman,  American 14,000 

Johnson  and  Olson,  Swedes 20,000 

Neil   McArthur,  Scotchman 50,000 

Charles  Anderson.  Swede 25,000 

Joe  Morris,  Canadian i5»ooo 

Hank  Peterson,  Swede 12,000 

"There  are  a  great  many  more  going  out  with  from 
$3,000  to  $10,000  that  I  do  not  know.  Tnis  is  probably 
the  richest  placer  ever  known  in  the  world.    They  took  it 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKEHS.  175 

out  so  fast  and  so  much  of  it  that  they  did  not  have  time 
to  weigh  it  with  gold  scales.  They  took  steelyards  and 
all  the  syrup  cans  were  filled.  It  looks  as  if  my  time 
would  come  about  the  time  I  am  ready  to  die. 

"One  man  received  w^ord  that  his  wife  and  little  girl 
had  died  since  he  came  in  here,  and  now  he  is  going  out 
with  $25,000. 

"Another  man  was  here  waiting  for  the  boat  to  go 
home,  and  died  yesterday  with  heart  disease,  having  in 
his  possession  $17,000.  Stranger  things  than  fiction  hap- 
pen here  every  day." 


176 


THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 


CHAPTER   X. 
PAN  VALUES  OF  PAYING  CLAIMS. 

ORROBORATIVE  evidence,  which  has 
come  in  since  the  steamer  "Enterprise" 
brought  back  the  first  of  the  men  who 
had  "struck  it  rich"  in  the  Klondike, 
shows  that  their  reports  were  not  exag- 
gerated. The  "Alaska  Miner,"  of  July  17, 
contains  a  long  article  on  the  Klondike 
placers,  in  which  the  results  are  compared 
with  an  analysis  made  last  March  of  the  pan  value  of  the 
two  richest  creeks.  Bonanza  and  El  Dorado.  This  analy- 
sis was  based  on  talks  with  several  men  who  had  spent 
most  of  the  winter  on  the  creek,  and  saw  panning  being 
done  on  various  claims.  The  Alaska  Miner  is  regarded 
as  high  authority  on  gold  in  Alaska  and  the  Yukon  dis- 
trict. The  article,  which  shows  the  extraordinary  rich- 
ness of  the  placer  mines  in  the  Klondike  district,  reads 
as  follows: 

"We  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  El  Dorado  would 
prove  to  be  the  richer  creek,  and  our  surmises  have 
proved  to  be  correct.  How  did  we  arrive  at  this  result? 
We  carefully  kept  a  record  of  the  panning  results  on  both 
creeks,  and  the  average  at  that  time  was  as  follows:  On 
El  Dorado  creek  No.  3,  $3;  No.  4,  $4.60;  No.  5,  $8.50; 
No.  6,  as  high  as  $153;  No.  7,  about  the  average  of  No. 
6.  No.  8,  as  high  as  $60:  from  No.  8  to  No.  16,  from 
$2.50  to  $10  on  an  average,  although  $216  was 
washed  out  of  one  pan  on  the  latter  claim.  From 
No.     16    to    No.    37    all    the    claims    were    regarded 


A     n 


\^k4&i!i 


y^ 


-■^  ..-ST 


/. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  17» 

as  good,  but  not  enough  panning  had  been  done 
to  justify  forming  any  opinion  of  the  average  value.  Upon 
No.  37  a  nugget  worth  $360  of  irregular  shape  was  found. 
From  No.  37  to  rim  rock  there  had  not  been  sufficient 
prospecting  done,  but  the  opinion  then  was  that  all  the 
claims  were  good. 

"Even  as  far  back  as  last  March  the  best  developed 
claim  in  the  country  was  that  of  Clarence  Berry,  No.  6 
on  El  Dorado,  in  which  he  then  owned  a  half  interest.  He 
also  owned  one-third  interest  in  Nos.  4  and  5.  He  em- 
ployed twelve  men  all  the  winter  taking  out  pay  dirt  and 
depositing  it  upon  the  dump.  To  give  an  idea  of  the 
richness  of  the  claim  we  cannot  do  better  than  say  that 
Berry  paid  his  men  $1.25  an  hour  until  someone  offered 
more,  and  that  every  night  he  melted  ice  in  his  cabin  and 
panned  out  suflficient  gold  from  the  frozen  dirt  to  pay  the 
wages  of  his  men. 

"Berry  knew  where  there  was  very  rich  ground  on  his 
claim  and  he  very  often  panned  out  from  $10  to  $50  to  the 
pan.  When  requiring  money  it  was  only  necessary  for 
the  owner  of  the  claim  to  take  out  some  of  his  rich  ground 
and  wash  it.  We  have  had  all  kinds  of  estimates  of  the 
amount  which  Berry's  dump  would  produce,  and  the 
highest  we  heard  was  $100,000,  so  that  in  announcing 
the  result  as  $140,000  it  goes  to  show  what  a  rich  coun- 
tr}^  has  been  discovered. 

"We  gave  figures  in  the  winter  which  showed  that  the 
lower  portion  of  Bonanza  creek  averaged  all  the  way 
from  $10  to  $50  to  the  pan,  up  to  No.  56  below  discovery. 
From  discovery  to  No.  12  above,  the  value  was  from  $5 
to  $40.  Then  from  there  to  No.  25  the  average  was  from 
v$40  to  $10.  From  No.  25  to  No.  53  the  average  is  from 
$10  to  50  cents.    From  this  point  up  the  creek  there  has 


180  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

not  been  enough  prospecting  clone  on  which  to  base  any 
average. 

"We  hope  soon  to  be  in  a  position  to  give  the  results 
from  the  various  claims  on  Bonanza  which  may  be  de- 
pended upon  and  we  can  then  compare  them  with  the 
panning  average  of  early  in  the  summer  as  given  above. 
We  know  that  Rhodes  has  taken  out  probably  $150,000 
from  his  claim,  but  then  it  was  well  developed  and  we  are 
expecting  big  results  from  there,  but  we  want  to  get  the 
information  from  a  number  of  claims,  so  as  to  get  the 
right  idea  of  the  general  value  of  the  creek,  and  prove  the 
assertion  so  often  made  of  its  continued  richness  from 
end  to  end. 

"One  thing  has  been  learned  in  the  Klondike,  and  that 
is  that  production  is  proportionate  to  development.  We 
have  found  that  the  yield  of  gold  follows  the  work  done  on 
a  claim.  When  Rhodes  made  such  a  good  showing  on 
the  start  it  encouraged  others  to  open  up  their  claims, 
and  quite  a  number  changed  hands  at  Bonanza  creek 
and  the  owners  left  there  for  the  coast  to  obtain  sufficient 
supplies  to  last  them  for  a  long  period.  Then  came  the 
big  returns  from  No.  6  on  El  Dorado,  and  the  great 
excitement  was  transferred  to  that  creek,  and  there  were 
fewer  absentee  owners  and  in  consequence  more  work 
was  done,  the  evidence  of  which  we  have  had  ample 
demonstration  of  in  the  big  sacks  of  gold  which  have  been 
washed  out. 

"The  largest  results  attract  the  most  attention,  there- 
fore most  of  the  stories  which  have  reached  the  coast 
cluster  around  the  few  big  producers,  and  of  the  sales 
made  only  those  involving  large  sums  are  spoken  of. 
There  are  a  great  many  smaller  sums  than  the  ones 
spoken  of  which  have  been  taken  from  El  Dorado.  But 
properties  which  in  any  other  country  on  the  face  of  the 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  181 

earth  would  attract  universal  attention  are  almost  lost 
sight  of  in  the  Klondike,  because  they  have  only  yielded 
$10,000,  $15,000  and  $20,000.  Next  fall  these  same 
claims  will  be  so  far  developed  as  to  hold  their  own  with 
the  r.est  of  the  creek.  Berry  had  a  good  start,  and  after 
reaching  bed  rock  could  command  sufficient  funds  to 
hire  men  and  pay  them  wages  equal  to  the  production  of 
an  ordinary  placer  mine.  We  have  no  particular  reason 
to  assume  that  other  claims  will  prove  less  productive 
than  his  when  they  have  had  the  same  amount  of  labor 
expended  upon  them.  Several  men  from  Seattle  went  in 
with  the  first  party  this  spring,  and  they  are  interested 
on  Bonanza  creek  and  intend  to  prosecute  work  with  all 
the  men  they  can  profitably  employ. 

"If  a  comparatively  few  men  in  the  limited  time  at  their 
disposal  are  able  to  produce  a  million  dollars  from  dirt 
raised  to  the  surface  during  the  winter  months 
with  practically  no  preparation  at  all,  what  will 
be  the  result  when  all  the  claims  are  being  vigor- 
ously developed  with  plenty  of  labor  to  draw  from?  This 
is  a  very  important  question,  and  is  one  fraught  with  con- 
siderable interest  to  the  great  number  of  men  now  on 
their  way  to  the  mines.  If  we  think  a  moment  that  there 
has  not  yet  been  a  barren  claim  on  either  of  the  creeks 
the  possibilities  of  the  future  are  tremendous.  Let  us 
make  this  a  little  clearer.  The  panning  in  the  winter 
gave  promise  of  exceedingly  rich  results.  These  rich 
results  have  been  attained  in  every  instance  where  the 
claim  has  been  worked.  We  have  therefore  the  right  to 
assume  that  similar  results  will  reward  the  efforts  of  the 
owners  of  other  claims  on  the  same  creeks  which  have 
been  so  productive  this  season. 

"The  only  evidence  one  had  of  the  probable  value  of 
a  claim  was  th^  amount  of  gold  obtained  in  a   single 


182  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

pan.  Suppose  we  follow  this  idea  out  for  a  moment.  No. 
6  on  El  Dorado  creek  panned  out  as  high  as  $153  to  the 
pan  last  winter  before  work  was  done  on  it.  This  is  the 
claim  which  produced  $140,000  from  the  winter  dump. 
Now,  then,  No.  7,  next  to  it,  yielded  precisely  the  same 
results  to  the  pan.  Why  will  not  No.  7,  when  it  is 
opened  up  as  much  as  No.  6  has  been,  give  the  same  re- 
sults? There  is  simply  no  answer  to  the  query.  Then, 
again,  the  next  claim.  No.  8,  panned  out  as  high  as 
$60  to  the  pan.  The  same  argument  applies  to  this.  The 
average  of  the  panning  from  No.  8  to  No.  16  is  from 
$2.50  to  $10  to  the  pan.  This  would  make  any  of  these 
claims  from  No.  7  to  No.  16  produce  as  much  gold  as  No. 
6  did  with  the  same  amount  of  labor  expended  on  them. 
What  w^ould  this  mean? 

"As  a  simple  Cjuestion  of  mathematics  it  would  mean 
several  million  dollars  alone  for  these  few  claims.  This 
takes  no  account  of  claims  No.  17  to  No.  37,  all  of  which 
are  reported  to  be  rich,  but  little  work  has  been  done  upon 
them  so  far. 

"When  all  the  claims  are  in  working  order  and  pro- 
ducing gold  in  proportion  to  their  development,  we  shall 
£ee  a  state  of  things  at  the  Klondike  unprecedented  in  the 
world's  history.  The  man  who  took  $90,000  from  45  feet 
of  his  ground  last  winter  and  has  450  feet  left  yet,  and  so 
far  as  he  knows,  of  the  same  average  value,  can,  by  put- 
ting enough  men  to  work,  clean  up  half  a  million  next 
season.  If  this  be  true,  then  there  are  others  who  have 
panned  out  from  $5  to  $40  in  prospecting  who  have  every 
reason  to  think  that  their  claims  will  yield  in  like  manner. 

'W^e  noticed  as  men  went  through  here  this  spring 
that  there  were  large  numbers  who  expect  to  hire  out, 
and  thus  obtain  a  stake  so  that  they  may  in  turn  spend 
some  time  in  prospecting  with  an  equal  chance  of  dis- 


BOOK    FOR    G0LD-SEEI<:ERS.  183 

covering  something  good  for  themselves.  Their  place 
v.ill  be  taken  by  other  arrivals,  and  the  work  of  securing 
the  gold  will  go  on  and  much  country  will  be  examined 
by  men  who  will  be  encouraged  and  stimulated  by  the 
success  of  others.  A  man  who  can  afford  to  hire  men 
and  pay  them  $12  a  day,  will  get  the  advantage  of  a  quick 
return.  These  diggings  are  essentially  winter  ones.  Upon 
a  claim  of  500  feet  a  large  number  of  prospect  holes  can 
be  sunk  at  the  same  timie,  and  the  pay  dirt  deposited  on 
the  dump,  and  next  spring  the  owner  of  the  claim  will  be 
in  a  position  to  realize  enormous  amounts  of  money  from 
his  property. 

"The  Klondike  diggings  may  be  regarded  as  permanent 
to  the  extent  of  several  million  dollars,  and  we  have  no 
hesitation  in  recommending  men  with  some  means  to  go 
and  try  their  fortunes  in  the  gold-lined  creeks  of  the  far 
north,  vvhere  endurance,  perseverance,  grit  and  a  good 
outfit  will  be  their  best  friends." 

Following  are  some  of  the  men  who  "struck  it  rich"  in 
the  Klondike,  most  of  the  claims  located  on  Bonanza  and 
El  Dorado  creeks: 

Clarence  Berry  and  Anton  Strander $130,000 

James  McLanie    11 ,000 

Frank  Phiscater    94,000 

Four  men  on  No.  2  El  Dorado 49,000 

Louis  Rhodes   40,000 

Thomas  Cross 10,000 

Ben  Wall  50,000 

William  Carlson  50,000 

William    Sloan    50,000 

John  Wilkerson    50,000 

James  Clemens   50,000 

Frank  Keller 35,ooo 

Samuel  Cellej    25,000 

Charles  Myers  and  partner 22,000 

John  Marks 10,000 


184  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

Fred  Latisceura    10,000 

Timothy   Bell    31,000 

William  Hayes   35,ooo 

Richard  AIcNiilty  20,000 

Jacob  Halterman   14,000 

Johnson  and  Olson   20,000 

Charles  Anderson 25,000 

Joseph    Morris    15,000 

Henry  Peterson    12,000 

Henry   Dore    50,000 

Victor  Lord   1 5,000 

William  Stanley   1 12,000 

James  McMahon   15,000 

Jacob  Home   6,000 

J.  J.  Kelly   10,000 

T.  S.  Lippy   65,000 

F.  G.  H.  Bowker 90,000 

Joe  La  Due 10,000 

J.  B.  Hollingshead  25,000 

William  Kulju   17,000 

Albert  Galbraith   15,000 

Neil  McArthur   15,000 

Douglas  McArthur   15,000 

Bernard  Anderson   14,000 

Robert  Krook 14,000 

Fred  Lendesser  1 3,000 

Alexander  Orr   11 ,500 

Thomas  Cook   10,000 

M.  D.  Norcross 10,000 

J.  Ernmerger 10,000 

Con  Stamatin   8,250 

Albert  Fox  5,100 

Greg  Stewart 5,ooo 

J.  O.  Hestwood 5,ooo 

Thomas  Flock 6,000 

Louis  B.  Rhodes 5,000 

Fred  Price    5,000 

Alaska  Commercial  company 250,000 

Gov.    H.   C.    Mcintosh,    of   the   Northwest   territory, 
comprising  the  Canadian  Yukon,  estimates  that  the  Klon- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  185 

dike  district  will  yield  $10,000,000  during  1897.  Gov. 
Mcintosh,  in  speaking  of  the  Klondike  find,  said : 

"We  are  only  on  the  threshold  of  the  greatest  discovery 
ever  made.  Gold  has  been  piling  up  in  all  these  innum- 
erable streams  for  hundreds  of  years.  Much  of  the  terri- 
tory the  foot  of  man  has  never  trod.  It  would  hardly  be 
possible  for  one  to  exaggerate  the  richness,  not  only  of 
the  Klondike,  but  of  other  districts  in  the  Canadian  Yu- 
kon. At  the  same  time  the  folly  of  thousands  rushing 
in  there  without  proper  means  of  subsistence  and  in 
utter  ignorance  of  geographical  conditions  of  the  country 
should  be  kept  ever  in  mind. 

"There  are  fully  9,000  miles  of  these  golden  waterways 
in  the  region  of  the  Yukon.  Rivers,  creeks  and  streams 
of  every  size  and  description  are  all  rich  in  gold.  I 
derived  this  knowledge  from  many  old  Hudson  Bay  ex- 
plorers, who  assured  me  that  they  considered  the  gold 
next  to  inexhaustible. 

"In  1894  I  made  a  report  to  Sir  John  Thompson,  then 
premier  of  Canada,  who  died  the  same  year  at 
Windsor  castle,  strongly  urging  that  a  body  of  Cana- 
dian police  be  established  on  the  river  to  maintain  order. 
This  was  done  in  1895,  and  the  British  outpost  of  Fort 
Cudahy  was  founded. 

"I  have  known  gold  to  exist  there  since  1889,  conse- 
quent upon  a  report  made  to  me  by  W.  Ogilvie,  the  gov- 
ernment explorer.  Many  streams  that  will  no  doubt  prove 
to  be  as  rich  as  the  Klondike  have  not  been  explored  or 
prospected.  Among  these  I  might  mention  Dominion 
creek,  Hootalinqua  river,  Stewart  river,  Liard  river  and 
a  score  of  other  streams  comparatively  unknown. 

"It  is  my  judgment  and  opinion  that  the  1897  yield  of 
the  Canadian  Yukon  will  exceed  $10,000,000  in  gold.  Of 
course,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Cariboo  and  Cassiar  districts 


186  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

years  ago,  it  will  be  impossible  accurately  to  estimate  the 
full  amount  taken  out. 

"There  is  now  far  in  excess  of  $1,000,000  remaining  al- 
ready mined  on  the  Klondike.  It  is  in  valises,  tin  cans 
and  lying  loose  in  saloons,  but  just  as  sacredly  guarded 
there  and  apparently  as  safe  as  if  it  were  in  a  vault.  Al- 
ready this  spring  we  have  ofificial  knowdedge  of  over  $2,- 
000,000  in  gold  having  been  taken  from  the  Klondike 
camps.  It  was  shipped  out  on  the  steamships  Excelsior 
and  Portland. 

"Incidentally  I  may  say  we  have  data  of  an  ofificial  na- 
ture which  lead  us  to  believe  that  the  gold  output  of  the 
Rossland  and  Kootenai  districts  for  1897  will  be  in  excess 
of  $7,000,000.  I  should  have  said,  and  I  have  no  hesi- 
tancy in  asserting,  that  within  the  course  of  five  years 
the  gold  yield  of  the  three  districts  named  will  exceed 
that  of  either  Colorado,  California  or  South  Africa." 


SNOW   STORM    IN   THE    MOUNTAINS. 


JBOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  189 

CHAPTER  XL 
THE  "BACK  DOOR"  ROUTE. 

HE  "BACK  DOOR"  route  to  the  Klon- 
dike country  is  the  highway  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  company.  The  Mac- 
kenzie river  stretches  its  length  of  i,- 
450  miles  most  of  the  distance,  and 
gold-seekers  can  float  on  its  waters  to 
one  of  the  several  rivers  which  ofifer 
ways  to  reach  the  western  slope  of  the 
divide,  far  up  under  the  Arctic  circle. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  "back  door"  route  to 
the  Klondike  follows  the  first  continental  route  across 
North  America.  This  way  was  discovered  by  Mackenzie 
in  1785,  when  he  paddled  his  canoe  from  Great  Slave 
lake  down  the  river  which  bears  his  name  to  the  Arctic 
ocean,  which  Mackenzie  supposed  was  the  Pacific  ocean. 
The  next  year  after  making  the  same  trip,  he  went  up 
the  Peace  river  and  crossed  over  the  divide  to  the  western 
slope,  which  now  is  Alaska,  thence  to  Bering  sea. 

The  Northwest  territory  includes  the  basins  of  the 
Athabasca,  Mackenzie  and  Great  Fish  rivers.  The  first 
exploration,  purely  geographical  in  character,  in  this  dis- 
trict was  made  by  Samuel  Hearne,  who  was  sent  in  1770 
by  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  northward  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Arctic  waters.  He  reached  the  Arctic  ocean 
and  wrote  an  account  of  his  journey,  but  this  important 
document  was  held  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  for 
20  years  before  it  was  published.  A  Canadian  family 
of  the  name  of  Beaulieu  founded  a  settlement  north  of 
Lake  Athabasca,  and  in  1778  a  fort  was  erected  there. 
10 


190  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

Next  an  Englishman,  named  Pond,  guided  by  these 
half-castes,  advanced  as  far  as  the  Great  Slave  lake,  and 
7  years  later  Mackenzie  entered  upon  his  explorations. 
After  Mackenzie's  expedition  no  voyage  of  discovery  was 
undertaken  until  1820,  when  Sir  John  Franklin  explored 
the  Northwest  territories  between  Lake  Winnipeg  and  the 
Arctic  ocean.  After  this  the  trappers  and  half-breeds  in 
the  employ  of  the  Northwest  Hudson's  Bay  company 
traveled  all  over  the  Northwest  territories. 

The  gold-seeker  who  takes  the  "back  door"  route  to 
the  Klondike  fields  will  travel  through  a  country  which 
has  been  placed  in  song  and  story  by  those  who  sang 
and  wrote  of  the  deeds  done  by  the  trappers,  voyageurs 
and  other  adventurers  in  the  employ  of  the  fur  com- 
panies. The  route  (described  in  preceding  pages  of  this 
book)  starts  from  Edmonton,  which  is  a  terminal  of  a 
spur  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  railroad  from  Calgary  on 
the  main  line,  and  is  1,772  miles  from  Chicago.  For  the 
first  forty  miles  toward  the  placer  mines  of  the  Klondike 
the  gold-seeker  will  travel  over  a  well  made  stage  road 
to  Athabasca  landing,  and  here  he  will  strike  the  waters 
which,  eventually,  will  find  their  way  into  the  Arctic 
ocean. 

The  Athabasca  river,  which  is  the  main  upper  branch 
of  the  Mackenzie,  has  its  remotest  southern  source  in 
the  little  lake,  on  the  east  side  of  Mt.  Brown  in  the  Rocky 
mountains,  which  passes  under  the  name  of  the  "Commit- 
tee's punch  bowl."  That  is  one  of  its  names,  for  in  com- 
mon with  all  the  other  lakes  and  rivers  and  streams  in 
the  Northwest  territory,  it  has  anywhere  from  2  to  7 
names,  as  every  watercourse  has  been  named  by  English 
and  Canadian  trappers  and  the  Indian  tribes  that  are  lo- 
cal to  the  vicinity.  The  term  Athabasca  is  not  often  used. 
The  Canadians  calling  it  the  "Biche."    On  some  English 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  191 

maps  it  passes  under  the  name  of  "Elk  river."  The  Ath- 
abasca receives  the  drainage  of  the  lesser  Slave  lake  as 
well  as  the  overflow  of  several  other  lakes  from  the  west. 
At  the  foot  of  Bark  mountain  the  Athabasca  runs  over  the 
"Great  rapids,"  which  is  an  inclined  plane  about  60 
miles  long,  unbroken  by  any  falls  or  cataracts,  and  only 
occasionally  is  the  water  ruffled  by  rocks  projecting  above 
the  surface. 

The  Athabasca  enters  Lake  Athabasca  550  miles  from 
its  source.  At  present  the  alluvial  delta  extends  towards 
the  northwest  about  30  miles,  having  many  channels 
which  change  their  direction  and  size  with  every  inunda- 
tion, Athabasca  lake  stands  about  500  feet  above  the 
sea  level.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  with  the  convex 
side  facing  north,  the  shores  are  very  irregular  and  have 
many  deep  inlets.  The  lake  receives  its  chief  tributary 
from  the  west,  and  here  also  is  the  outlet,  so  that  the 
delta  is  common  to  both  the  affluent  and  effluent.  The 
Athabasca  and  Peace  rivers  uniting  form  the  Great  Slave 
river,  which  is  a  very  large  stream,  but  its  passage 
through  the  Caribou  hills  is  so  obstructed  by  rapids  that 
boatmen  have  to  make  7  portages  between  the  Dog 
river  from  the  east  and  the  Salt  river  from  the  west. 

Below  these  rapids  the  true  Mackenzie,  or  the  "Great" 
river,  as  the  natives  call  it,  begins  its  1,450  miles  journey 
to  the  Arctic  ocean.  Up  to  the  Great  Slave  lake  into 
which  it  empties  it  passes  between  wooded  hills.  The 
Great  Slave  lake  is  one  of  the  largest  in  North  America; 
it  is  not  less  than  300  miles  long,  60  miles  at  its  widest 
part  and  has  an  area  of  about  10,000  square  miles.  In 
the  west  it  is  shallow,  but  its  eastern  end  is  bordered  by 
steep  cliffs  and  high  bluffs  and  the  waters  there,  it  is  said, 
are  650  feet  deep.  The  63d  parallel  crosses  the  northern 
waters  of  Great  Slave  lake.    The  Mackenzie  escapes  from 


192  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

the  lake  at  the  northwest.  It  first  widens  into  basins  that 
are  ahnost  stagnant,  and  then  its  banks  come  together, 
and  the  river  bed  falls  rapidly  to  where  the  Liard  comes 
in  from  the  south. 

Below  the  confluence  of  the  Liard  the  Mackenzie  main- 
tains a  width  of  2,000  yards;  at  many  points  the  banks 
are  4  to  5  miles  apart.  Several  rapids  occur,  of  which 
but  one,  the  Sans-Saut,  offer  any  dangers  to  navigation. 
The  delta  of  the  jVIackenzie  extends  north  and  south  a 
distance  of  90  miles,  with  an  area  of  4,000  square  miles. 
This  delta,  however,  is  common  also  to  the  Peel  or 
Plumee  river,  which  comes  in  from  the  west. 

The  Athabasca-Mackenzie  river,  which  has  a  total 
length  of  nearly  2,700  miles,  has  a  basin  of  at  least  460,- 
000  square  miles,  has  been  used  regularly  for  the  trans- 
port of  provisions  and  merchandise  since  1887.  Steamers 
from  Lake  Winnipeg  ascend  the  Saskatchewan  river  to 
a  large  rapid,  which  is  evaded  by  a  short  railroad,  beyond 
which  navigation  again  is  resumed.  A  wagon  road  100 
miles  long  runs  to  the  Athabasca  river,  which  is  descend- 
ed by  steamers  and  flat-bottomed  boats,  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  waters,  to  Fort  Smith,  on  the  Great  Slave 
river.  At  this  point  is  a  portage  12  miles  long.  Beyond 
the  portage  steamers  which  draw  5  feet  regularly  ply  on 
the  Mackenzie  to  its  estuary,  as  well  as  on  the  Peace  and 
Liard  rivers,  and  on  Lake  Dease.  This  gives  the  united 
Saskatchewan  and  Athabasca-Mackenzie  basins  a  water- 
way of  7,500  miles,  almost  every  mile  of  which  is  navi- 
gable, and  beyond  which  navigation  can  be  continued 
along  the  Arctic  seaboard  to  Bering  strait  for  three 
months  in  the  year. 

The  forts  and  settlements  along  the  Athabasca-Mac- 
kenzie route  have  acquired  a  certain  celebrity  in  connec- 
tion with  the  stories  of  adventure  and  tales  of  romance 


BOOK    FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  193 

which  are  connected  with  the  names  of  Mackenzie, 
FrankHn,  Back,  Richardson  and  other  noted  explorers. 
Fort  IMcMurray  stands  at  the  confluence  of  the  Atha- 
basca and  Clearwater  rivers  at  the  famous  La  Loche 
portage,  which  has  been  the  main  route  of  Canadian  trav- 
elers and  trappers  for  a  century. 

Fort  Chippewayan  stands  at  the  western  extremity  of 
Lake  Athabasca.  The  shiftings  of  the  alluvial  delta  have 
compelled  the  trappers  to  move  Fort  Chippewayan  sev- 
eral times.  Fort  Smith  is  at  the  end  of  the  portage  from 
Smith's  landing,  between  Lake  Athabasca  and  Great 
Slave  lake,  and  beyond  are  Fort  Resolution  and  Fort 
Providence,  on  the  Great  Slave  lake,  all  of  them  famous 
in  connection  with  Sir  John  Franklin's  expedition,  just 
as  Fort  Reliance  has  acquired  fame  because  of  its  asso- 
ciation with  the  exploits  and  adventures  of  Back.  Fort 
Reliance,  however,  has  been  abandoned. 

In  the  region  between  the  Great  Slave  and  Great  Bear 
lakes  is  Fort  Simpson,  the  chief  station,  which  stands  at 
the  junction  of  the  Liard  and  Mackenzie  rivers,  com- 
manding also  the  route  from  the  sources  of  the  Stikeen 
river  to  South  Alaska.  Fort  Wrigley  is  the  next  station 
above  Fort  Simpson,  then  comes  Fort  Norman,  which 
stands  at  the  juncture  of  the  ^Mackenzie  and  the  Hare- 
skin  rivers;  still  further  north  is  Fort  Good  Hope,  and 
then  comes  Fort  McPherson,  the  most  northern  of  the 
posts,  which  stands  at  the  junction  of  the  Peel  and  the 
Mackenzie  rivers,  and  which  has  been  maintained  in  a 
state  of  defense  since  1848. 

The  gold-seeker  must  be  prepared  to  stand  cold  weather 
as  well  as  hot  weather  on  this  "back  door"  route,  depend- 
ing on  the  time  of  the  year  he  makes  the  trip.  The  Hud- 
son's Bay  company  trappers  traverse  this  whole  district 
from  one  end  of  the  year  to  the  other.     Snow  seldom 


194  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

falls  during  intensely  cold  weather.  At  Fort  Chippe- 
vvayan,  which  is  in  58  degrees  43  minutes  north  latitude, 
the  mean  temperature  is  2y  degrees  Fahr. ;  extreme  of 
cold,  49  degrees  below  zero ;  extreme  of  heat,  86  degrees 
above  zero.  At  Fort  Good  Hope,  which  is  66  degrees  20 
minutes  north  latitude,  the  thermometer  sinks  62  degrees 
below  zero,  and  for  six  months,  that  is  from  October  17 
to  April  24,  the  average  temperature  at  Fort  Confidence, 
which  is  in  practically  the  same  latitude  as  Fort  Good 
Hope,  is  14  degrees  below  zero. 

At  Fort  Simpson,  which  is  62  degrees  north  latitude, 
a  boat  is  loaded  every  year  with  potatoes  grown  there  to 
supply  the  station  of  Fort  Good  Hope  on  the  Lower  Mac- 
kenzie; at  Fort  Simpson  also  barley  is  in  the  ear  75  days 
after  being  sown,  although  the  ground  is  permanently 
frozen  for  a  depth  of  at  least  7  feet  10  to  12  feet  below  the 
surface.  Snow,  however,  is  seldom  more  than  3  feet  deep 
in  winter,  and  horses  pass  the  season  there  in  the  open. 

The  half-caste  trappers  in  the  service  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  company  are  noted  the  world  over  for  their  physical 
strength,  their  skill,  indifference  to  cold  and  hardships, 
and  coolness  in  the  presence  of  danger.  In  all  proba- 
bility the  rush  of  the  gold-seekers  next  spring  will  tear 
down,  in  a  good  measure,  the  veil  of  romance  and  mys- 
tery which  has  hidden  this  land  from  the  outside  world 
for  so  many  years.  It  might  be  of  service  to  the  men 
who  intend  to  take  the  "back  door"  route  to  know  that 
the  principal  food  of  the  trappers  and  Indians  of  the 
Northwest  country  is  pemmican,  "jerked  beef,"  which,  it 
is  said,  contains  more  nutritious  elements,  bulk  for  bulk, 
than  any  similar  preparation.  The  normal  ration  of  pem- 
mican for  one  day  for  one  man  is  but  two  and  a  half 
pounds;  that  seems  to  satisfy  even  the  Indians.    Pemmi- 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  195 

can  is  made  from  the  round  of  beef,  cut  in  strips  and  dried, 
and  then  shredded  or  mixed  with  beef  tallow  and  raisins. 

Craft  W.  Higgins  of  Chicago,  one  of  the  promoters  of 
the  British  Pacific  railway,  which  is  intended  to  open  up 
and  develop  the  rich  Caribou  gold  country,  and  who  was 
all  through  British  Columbia  and  the  Northwest  territory 
in  1892-3,  and  afterward  made  a  trip  to  the  Yukon,  is 
one  authority  for  the  statement  that  the  back  door  route 
was  not  only  the  most  practicable,  but  the  most  feas- 
ible of  the  overland  routes;  entailed  less  hardships  than 
that  through  the  Chilkoot  pass,  did  not  take  near  so  long 
a  time  as  the  other  routes,  and  that  transportation  of  sup- 
plies was  much  easier.    Mr.  Higgins  said: 

"The  jumping-off  place  is  at  Edmonton,  1,772  miles 
from  Chicago,  on  the  Canadian  Pacific  railway.  A  stage 
line  runs  from  there  to  Athabasca  landing,  on  the  Atha- 
basca river,  and  the  Canadian  Pacific  intends  to  extend 
its  line  north  from  Edmonton  to  that  point.  At  Edmon- 
ton the  Canadian  Pacific  owns  very  large  coal  mines. 
From  Athabasca  landing  you  can  take  a  canoe  and  go 
down  with  the  current  to  Athabasca  lake,  and  then  into 
Great  Slave  lake,  through  which  runs  the  Mackenzie 
river,  by  which  you  reach  the  Arctic  ocean.  When  the 
mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  is  reached  the  Peel  river  can  be 
taken  south  to  the  Rocky  mountains,  which  are  crossed 
by  trail.  When  across  the  range  the  Stewart  river  opens 
the  way  to  the  near-by  Klondike  regions. 

"From  Edmonton  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  the 
distance  is  1,882  miles,  as  given  by  the  Hudson's 
Bay  company,  w-hich  has  a  number  of  trading  posts, 
well  stocked  with  provisions  and  supplies  of  all  kinds, 
at  short  intervals  along  the  route,  as  it  has  been 
using  this  trail  for  the  last  100  years.  The  port- 
ages   are    all    short,    with    the    exception    of    one    at 


196  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

Smith's  landing  of  about  sixteen  miles,  but  this  is 
very  easy  to  make.  One  can  take  the  splendid  tram- 
way which  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  has  built.  None 
of  the  other  portages  is  more  than  a  few  hundred  yards  in 
length.  The  trip  is  down  grade  all  the  way,  and  wherever 
there  is  water  of  any  depth  at  all  small  freight  steamers 
are  continually  plying  back  and  forth.  The  trip  can  be 
made  from  Edmonton  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie 
in  less  than  60  days,  but  if  Peel  river  is  frozen,  dog  trains 
will  have  to  be  taken  from  there  to  the  Klondike;  but 
even  with  those  the  disadvantages  and  hardships  will  not 
be  half  those  to  be  overcome  in  going  by  way  of  Dyea. 
One  great  advantage  of  this  route  is  that  it  is  an  organ- 
ized line  of  travel,  and  the  numerous  posts  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  company  can  furnish  prospectors  with  ample  sup- 
plies, enabling  them  to  travel  very  light,  as  only  sufficient 
supplies  are  necessary  to  last  from  one  post  to  another. 

"I  would  not  like  to  say  just  exactly  what  the  cost  of 
the  trip  via  the  'back  door  route'  would  be,  but  I  think  it 
could  be  made  for  less  money  than  any  of  the  others  which 
are  now  so  popular.  Canoes  can  be  obtained  readily  from 
the  Indians,  but  it  is  not  advisable  to  attempt  to  use  them 
without  the  assistance  of  an  Indian  who  is  familiar  with 
the  frail  birch-bark  canoes.  These  canoes  can  be  secured 
to  carry  several  tons.  The  Hudson's  Bay  company  also 
contracts  to  take  freight  north  on  their  steamers  during 
the  season  of  open  navigation. 

"With  a  small  expenditure  of  money  this  route  can  be 
improved  and  the  facilities  increased  so  that  any  amount 
of  freight  and  any  number  of  passengers  can  be  taken 
to  the  gold  regions.  I  was  told  at  Edmonton  that  still 
south  of  the  international  boundary  line  the  mountains 
were  very  high,  but  that  the  elevation  continually  lowered 
northward  until  there  remained  only  a  high  plateau.    In 


iDAWSON  CITY 


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BACK    DOOR   ROUTE   VIA   ATHABASCA   AND    MACKENZIE    RIVERS. 


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BACK   DOOR  ROUTE   VIA   SASKATCHEWAN   AND   MACKENZIE   RIVERS. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  201 

fact,  the  pass  through  the  Rocky  mountains  which  the 
British  Pacific  will  use  is  some  200  miles  north  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  and  only  about  2,200  feet  high,  being  the 
lowest  elevation  at  which  any  transcontinental  road  cross- 
es the  divide. 

"In  talking  with  members  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  posts 
and  officers  of  the  Canadian  mounted  police  at  Calgary 
and  Edmonton,  and  also  at  Victoria  and  up  in  the  famous 
Caribou  country,  I  was  told  that  several  years  ago  some 
$60,000,000  In  gold  was  taken  out;  that  the  mines  were 
being  worked  by  hydraulic  mining;  that  all  the  beds  of 
the  small  streams  from  the  6oth  parallel  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Mackenzie  river  were  filled  with  gold.  A  great  num- 
ber of  those  running  west  from  the  Mackenzie  river  even- 
tually empty  into  the  Yukon.  When  I  was  told  this,  of 
course,  I  did  not  pay  so  much  attention  to  it,  because  the 
gold  fever  was  not  so  rampant  as  at  present.  The  Cassiar 
and  Ominaca  districts  have  long  been  known  to  be  ex- 
tensively rich  in  gold,  and  if  one-half  of  what  has  been 
told  to  me  is  true  they  will  not  only  rival  but  surpass  the 
now  famous  Klondike,  I  have  seen  any  number  of  the 
most  beautiful  specimens  of  white  quartz  filled  with  gold, 
and  when  the  method  of  quartz  mining  is  perfected  up 
in  that  far  north  the  present  placer  claims  will  soon  seem 
wonderfully  poor  in  comparison. 

"Dr.  Dawson,  the  eminent  geologist  of  the  Canadian 
government,  who  only  a  few  years  ago  made  an  extensive 
and  exhaustive  geological  survey  of  the  northwestern 
provinces  of  Canada,  told  me  that  he  considered  the  rea- 
son for  the  gold  being  found  in  the  small  streams  was  due 
to  the  breaking  and  grinding  action  of  the  glaciers  more 
than  for  any  other  cause.  Gold  undoubtedly  exists  in 
places  in  large  and  paying  quantities,  but  quartz  mining 


202  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

requires  machinery  and  money,  and,  of  course,  is  not  the 
poor  man's  proposition,  as  is  placer  mining." 

Mgr.  Clut,  the  missionary  auxihary  bishop  of  Atha- 
basca and  Mackenzie,  has  been  in  that  far  ofif  land  for 
many  years,  laboring  as  an  Oblat  father  and  subsequently 
as  bishop.  He  is  quite  familiar  with  the  country  which  is 
now  attracting  such  numbers  of  gold-seekers,  and  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  ago  he  journeyed  through  the  whole  Yu- 
kon country.  Although  no  one  dreamt  of  gold  deposits 
then,  and  JMgr.  Clut  knew  nothing  of  the  mineral  re- 
sources of  the  region  till  afterward,  he  knows  all  about 
climatic  conditions  of  the  Yukon  district,  and  how  best 
it  can  be  reached. 

In  the  spring  of  1872,  Francois  Mercier,  now  of  Mon- 
treal, returned  to  San  Francisco  from  Alaska,  where  he 
had  been  representing  the  Commercial  company  of  Alas- 
ka, and  reported  that  the  Indians  were  becoming  so 
troublesome  as  to  obstruct  trade.  The  company  promised 
to  send  up  a  couple  of  hundred  armed  men  to  protect  the 
traders,  but  Mr.  Mercier  suggested  that  two  or  three 
roman  catholic  missionaries  would  do  more  good  than 
as  many  hundred  soldiers,  and  so  Father  Clut  was  asked 
to  go.  Accompanied  by  several  French  Canadian  repre- 
sentatives of  the  company,  he  set  out  on  August  30,  1872, 
and  did  not  return  till  September  8,  1873,  wintering  at 
Fort  Yukon. 

Speaking  of  the  experiences  of  that  trip,  which  was  a 
long  and  difficult  one,  Mgv.  Clut  said  emphatically  that 
it  would  be  more  than  folly  for  any  one  to  attempt  to 
reach  the  Klondike  without  being  able  to  take  along  with 
him  plenty  of  warm  clothing,  as  well  as  a  good  supply 
of  food.  He  had  already  dissuaded  a  good  many  people 
whom  he  had  met  during  the  present  visit  east,  from  start- 
ing off  at  once  for  the  so-called  land  of  gold.    It  would 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  203 

be  simply  impossible  for  gold-hunting  to  be  accomplished 
during  the  winter  with  snow  on  the  hard,  frozen  ground. 

As  to  the  best  means  of  reaching  the  country,  Bishop 
Glut  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  route  by  the  Mackenzie 
river  is  by  far  the  safest  and  most  practicable.  Of  this 
route  he  said:  "It  may  take  longer,  but  the  difficulties 
the  prospector  will  have  to  overcome  going  via  Fort  Mac- 
pherson  will  be  certainly  very  much  less  than  in  going 
through  the  passes  from  Dyea  on  the  coast.  Alter  leav- 
ing Macpherson  the  Rocky  mountains  have  to  be  crossed, 
the  distance  to  what  is  called  Lapierre  house  being  about 
80  miles,  and  this  is  the  only  portage  to  be  met  with,  save 
one  of  16  miles  after  leaving  Athabasca  landing,  60  miles 
from  Edmonton." 

According  to  men  who  have  traveled  the  Mackenzie 
river  route,  $200  is  sufficient  to  cover  transportation  ex- 
penses from  Chicago  to  the  Klondike  country. 

To  travel  over  it  passengers  must  go  to  St.  Paul  and 
there  take  train  over  the  Canadian  Pacific.  Leaving  St. 
Paul  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  international  boun- 
dary at  Portal  will  be  crossed  at  4  o'clock  the  next  morn- 
ing. At  2:22  the  following  morning  the  Chicagoan  will 
find  himself  at  Calgary,  where  he  will  leave  the  main  line 
of  the  Canadian  Pacific  and  travel  to  Edmonton,  a  point 
1,772  miles  from  Chicago,  and  where  the  rail  portion  of 
the  journey  ends.     The  railroad  fare  from  Chicago  is 

$53-65- 

A  stage  ride  of  40  miles  will  bring  him  to  Athabasca 
landing.  Here  he  will  find  a  continuous  waterway  for 
canoe  travel  to  Fort  Macpherson  at  the  north  mouth  of 
the  Mackenzie  river,  from  which  point  the  Peel  river  leads 
south  to  the  gold  regions.  From  Edmonton  to  Fort 
Macpherson  is  1,882  miles. 

A  recent  letter  from  a  missionary  declared  the  ice  had 


204  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

only  commenced  to  run  in  the  Peel  river  Sept.  30  last 
year.  The  Peel  river  is  the  water  route  southeast  from 
Fort  Macpherson  into  the  gold  regions. 

Travelers  need  not  carry  any  more  food  than  will  take 
them  from  one  Hudson's  Bay  post  to  the  next,  and  there 
is  abundance  of  fish  and  wild  fowl  along  the  route.  They 
can  also  get  assistance  at  the  posts  in  case  of  sickness  or 
accident. 

If  lucky  enough  to  make  their  "pile"  in  the  Klondike 
they  can  come  back  by  the  dog-sled  route  in  the  winter. 
There  is  one  mail  to  Fort  IMacpherson  in  the  winter. 
Dogs  for  teams  can  be  bought  at  any  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  posts  which  form  a  chain  of  roadhouses  on  the  trip. 

Parties  traveling  alone  will  need  no  guides  until  they 
get  near  Fort  Macpherson,  the  route  from  Edmonton  be- 
ing so  well  defined. 

It  is  estimated  that  a  party  of  three  could  provide  them- 
selves with  food  for  the  canoe  trip  of  two  months  for  $35. 
Pork,  tea,  flour  and  baking  powder  would  suffice. 

Parties  should  consist  of  three  men,  as  that  is  the  crew 
of  a  canoe.  It  will  take  600  pounds  of  food  to  carry  three 
men  over  the  route.  The  paddling  is  all  done  down- 
stream except  when  they  turn  south  up  Peel  river,  and 
sails  should  be  taken,  as  there  is  often  a  favorable  wind  for 
days.  There  are  large  scows  on  the  line  manned  by  ten 
men  each,  and  known  as  "sturgeon  heads."  They  are  like 
canal  boats,  but  are  punted  along,  and  are  used  by  the 
Hudson's  bay  people  for  taking  supplies  to  the  forts. 

This  is  the  way  one  enthusiastic  advocate  of  the  "back- 
door" route  puts  the  proposition: 

"Let  the  voyager  build  his  boat  at  Fargo,  N.  D.,  or 
Moorhead,  ]\Iinn,,  on  the  Red  River  of  the  North,  float  it 
down  stream  (north)  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  then  cross  Lake 
iWinnipeg  to  the  mouth  of  the  Saskatchewan  river,  then 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  205 

follow  that  river  up  stream  to  the  forks,  where  the 
north  branch  empties  its  waters  into  the  Saskatchewan. 
F'ollow  from  there  the  North  branch  up  stream  to  White 
Whale  lake.  Here  is  the  first  transfer  overland,  lO  miles 
westward  to  Pembina  river.  Then  float  down  stream  on 
the  Pembina  river  to  the  Athabasca,  thence  down  stream 
to  Lake  Athabasca,  crossing  it  and  taking  the  Slave  river 
down  stream.  Crossing  the  Great  Slave  lake,  take  the 
Mackenzie  river  northward  (down  stream)  until  the 
mouth  of  the  Liard  or  Mountain  river  is  reached.  Fol- 
low the  Liard  or  Mountain  river  up  stream  to  Simpson 
lake,  where  the  second  and  last  transfer  by  land  occurs, 
50  miles  northward  to  Francis  lake,  which  is  the  head- 
waters of  the  Pelly  river.  Float  down  this  Pelly  river  to 
the  Yukon,  thence  down  the  Yukon,  prospecting  as  you 
go,  until  your  El  Dorado  is  reached. 

"A  boat  25  feet  long,  5  feet  wide,  2^  feet  deep,  built  of 
wood  or  sheet  iron,  rigged  for  two  pairs  of  timber  wheels, 
or  with  an  iron  axle  made  to  fit  the  bottom  of  the  boat, 
with  which  to  transport  it  across  the  land,  could  easily 
carry  six  men  and  their  supplies  for  a  year,  allowing  3 
men  to  rest  while  the  other  3  manage  the  boat.  Take  four 
pairs  of  good,  strong  oars,  four  long  poles,  a  sail  and 
about  1,000  feet  of  i|-inch  strong  rope  for  cordelling  pur- 
poses on  some  of  the  streams  where  you  go  against  the 
current. 

"All  the  land  you  traverse  after  reaching  the  British 
possessions  is  where  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  has  its 
many  outposts  and  trading  houses.  This  country,  until 
Great  Slave  lake  is  reached,  is  filled  with  all  sorts  of 
game. 

"It  will  probably  take  no  longer  to  go  this  route  than 
it  will  to  go  by  vessel  from  Seattle  to  St.  Michael,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Yukon,  and  thence  2,000  miles  up  the  Yu- 


206  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

kon  on  the  very  small  steamers  in  use  on  that  river,  and 
as  there  will  be  little  opportunity  to  use  or  spend  money 
on  this  route,  it  being  one  in  which  the  voyager  'works 
his  way/  it  will  no  doubt  prove  the  popular  overland  route 
to  the  gold  fields  by  the  class  of  hardy  spirits  not  over- 
burdened w'ith  cash. 

"A  light  steam  vessel  or  steam  launch  could  tow  15 
of  these  boats  as  far  as  the  depth  of  water  would  permit, 
and  at  the  two  places  where  transportation  by  land  is  re- 
quired it  will  not  be  long  before  some  sturdy,  enterpris- 
ing man  will  locate  at  each,  with  horses  or  oxen,  with 
wheels  rigged  especially  to  transfer  these  boats  and  their 
cargoes  from  one  stream  to  the  other,  thus  rendering  the 
voyage  one  of  only  ordinary  labor  of  from  3  to  5  weeks  to 
complete. 

"The  prospects  are  that  enough  hides  and  furs  can  be 
taken  while  in  transit  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  excur- 
sion. These  rivers  are  solidly  frozen  until  March  or 
April.  Leaving  Fargo  wdien  the  ice  breaks,  these  boats 
can  follow  it,  and  as  fast  as  the  ice  runs  out  of  the  Mac- 
kenzie you  follow,  which  will  permit  you  to  reach  the 
gold  fields  while  the  Yukon  ice  is  running  out,  at  least 
one  month  before  any  steamer  can  ascend  it.  You  can 
carry  your  guns,  axes,  saws  and  supplies  for  a  year  with 
you.  The  steamers  on  the  Pacific  and  the  Yukon  will  not 
carry  a  pound  of  any  sort  of  freight  for  a  miner,  but  com- 
pel them  to  purchase  everything  they  desire  from  the 
stores  belonging  to  the  company  that  owns  the  vessels, 
and  at  prices  that  almost  amount  to  confiscation." 

Another  man  who  believes  in  the  "back  door"  route  is 
"Si"  Malterner  of  Canton,  N.  Y.,  who,  for  the  third  time, 
is  on  his  way  to  the  Arctic  ocean  by  way  of  the  lordly 
Mackenzie. 

Just  before  leaving  home  he  said: 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  207 

"Take  the  Canadian  Pacific  to  Calgary  and  the  branch 
line  to  Edmonton.  A  stage  ride  will  place  you  at  Atha- 
basca landing,  on  water  that  empties  into  the  Arctic 
ocean.  From  there  you  pass  through  the  Great  Slave 
lake  into  the  Mackenzie  river.  Float  down  that  stream 
about  I, ICO  miles  to  the  mouth  of  the  Peel  river.  Go  up 
the  Peel  about  15  miles  to  the  mouth  of  the  Husky.  Fol- 
low up  this  stream  to  the  divide.  A  portage  of  4  miles  will 
put  you  on  the  Porcupine  river.  From  there  you  paddle 
up  stream  past  Cudahy  and  Circle  City  to  Klondike,  or 
rather  Dawson  City. 

"I  will  make  the  trip  alone.  Two  years  ago  I  went  with 
a  party  from  the  lake  to  the  ocean  and  back.  Last  year 
I  went  alone.  I  left  the  landing  May  i,  and  landed  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river  July  30.  The  Mackenzie,  from  the 
lake,  is  from  3  to  8  miles  wide.  Where  it  is  joined 
by  the  Peel  it  widens  to  15  miles,  and  at  its  mouth  it  must 
be  about  60  miles  wide.  From  lake  to  ocean  is  about  i,- 
400  miles.  There  are  some  bad  places  in  the  stream.  One 
of  these  consists  of  a  succession  of  dangerous  rapids  ex- 
tending for  100  miles,  that  no  one  should  attempt  unless 
under  the  direction  of  an  experienced  guide.  The  cur- 
rent is  strong  and  rapid.  I  made  the  trip  in  a  seventeen- 
foot  Petersborough  canoe. 

"The  country  through  which  the  river  runs  is  rolling 
and  has  considerable  timber  along  the  low  places.  There 
is  considerable  game,  including  moose,  caribou,  sheep, 
birds  and  mosquitoes.  The  latter  deserve  to  be  classed 
as  game,  though  the  man  is  the  hunted,  not  the  hunter, 
in  their  case.  In  summer  it  is  hot  along  the  river.  Near 
the  Arctic  circle  the  thermometer  sometimes  stood  at  75 
and  80.  The  sun,  of  course,  shines  all  summer,  so  there  is 
no  chance  to  cool  ofif. 

"There  is  but  one  way  to  get  back,  and  that  is  to  draw 


208  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

your  boat  by  a  rope  and  walk  along  the  bank  a  la  canal- 
boat.  The  Hudson's  Bay  company  operates  an  8o-foot 
boat  from  the  mouth  of  the  Peel  river  to  Fort  Smith,  200 
miles  this  side  of  Great  Slave  lake,  but  does  not  accept 
passengers  or  freight.  This  company  also  has  stations 
every  200  or  300  miles  along  the  river." 

P.  J.  Curran  of  5818  Aberdeen  street,  Chicago,  will 
start  for  Alaska  about  March  i.  He  expects  to  go  "cross 
lots"  and  to  get  there  in  seven  weeks. 

Mr.  Curran,  who  is  employed  at  the  stock  yards,  was  a 
member  of  the  Canadian  mounted  police  patroling  the 
British  Northwest  territory  for  8  years.  He  is  familiar 
with  the  country  and  the  needs  for  a  journey  and  will 
lead  a  party  of  four  from  Chicago  to  the  Klondike  gold 
fields.  Mrs.  Curran,  who  was  a  teacher  and  missionary 
among  the  Indians  of  the  northwest  for  15  years,  wears 
two  bright  gold  rings  which  were  molded  by  a  frontier 
blacksmith  from  gold  panned  by  her  husband  from  the 
Saskatchewan  river. 

Gold  is  found,  according  to  Mr.  Curran,  in  all  of  the 
streams  of  the  northwest  in  varying  quantities  and  has 
been  mined  in  a  desultory  way  for  many  years. 

During  his  residence  in  the  territory  Mr.  Curran  says 
prospecting  parties  frequently  pushed  north,  but  the 
policy  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company,  which  has  grown 
rich  from  trading  with  the  Indians  since  the  time  of 
Charles  II.,  has  been  to  discourage  white  men  from  get- 
ting a  foothold. 

Mr.  Curran  outlined  his  plans  as  follows: 

At  Edmonton  we  will  purchase  a  dog  team,  and  travel 
north  with  these  swift  runners  along  the  system  of  lakes 
and  rivers  which  find  their  outlet  into  the  Arctic  ocean 
through  the  Mackenzie  river. 

"From  some  point  on  the  upper  Mackenzie  we  will 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  211 

turn  our  course  overland,  and  thus  make  the  journey  to 
the  gold  fields  of  the  Klondike. 

"Starting  from  Edmonton  March  i,  we  will  make  the 
journey  after  the  most  rigorous  part  of  the  winter  has 
softened  under  the  influences  of  the  lengthening  days, 
but  before  any  of  the  waterways  have  broken  up,  so  that 
the  journey  may  be  made  all  the  way  with  dog  sledges. 
We  expect  to  be  on  the  grounds  by  the  time  spring  pros- 
pecting opens." 

Mr.  Curran  said  that  many  of  the  prospectors  were  not 
taking  counsel  of  wisdom  in  selecting  their  outfits.  "I 
see  no  reason  why,"  he  said,  "the  miners  cannot  live  for  a 
season  on  the  kind  of  rations  which  the  Canadian  police 
thrive  on  all  of  the  year.  A  pound  of  flour  and  a  pound  of 
bacon  a  day  sustains  the  life  of  those  in  the  government 
service,  and  often  sends  them  back  living  pictures  of 
health  to  their  friends,  who  had  seen  them  leave  their 
eastern  homes  frail  and  delicate.  Canned  goods  are  out 
of  place  in  the  traveler's  outfit  for  the  reason  they  take 
up  room  and  are  not  valuable  as  food. 

"For  supplies  to  last  one  man  400  days  I  would  take 
400  pounds  of  flour,  400  pounds  of  bacon — fat  meat  is 
necessary  to  sustain  life  in  a  cold  climate — 75  pounds  of 
beans,  50  pounds  of  evaporated  apples,  60  pounds  of 
sugar,  12  pounds  of  tea.  Tea  is  better  as  a  drink  in  cold 
countries  than  cofifee.  Northern  natives  and  white  trad- 
ers use  tea  as  the  staple  drink. 

"My  clothing  outfit  will  be  two  suits  of  heavy  under- 
wear, two  heavy  flannel  shirts,  six  pairs  of  socks,  two 
pairs  of  long  stockings,  two  pairs  of  moleskin  trousers, 
one  pair  of  heavy  boots,  four  pairs  of  moccasins,  two 
pairs  of  drufifels,  leather  mittens,  wool  mittens,  fur  cap, 
a  Canadian  toque,  four  pairs  Hudson  bay  blankets  and 
a  bearskin  robe." 

11 


21U  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

The  things  described,  with  pick,  shovel,  tools  and  a 
canvas  canoe,  will  comprise  the  load  which  Mr.  Curran 
expects  his  dog  team  can  haul  over  the  track  at  the  rate  of 
50  miles  a  day.  A  good  dog  team,  he  thinks,  should  be 
purchased  at  Edmonton  for  $60,  unless  dogs  have 
"boomed"  since  he  priced  them  in  that  city.  Mr.  Cur'-an 
estimates  the  expense  of  the  trip  at  $600.  He  will  pur- 
chase his  entire  outfit  at  Edmonton  and  not  try  to  ob- 
tain anything  from  the  stores  and  stations  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  company  which  are  scattered  along  the  way. 

The  country  through  which  he  will  travel  abounds  with 
game — deer,  moose,  elk,  red  deer,  ducks  and  geese,  and 
black  and  grizzly  bear  are  common  enough,  so  that  the 
tourist,  armed  with  shotgun  and  rifle,  need  not  want  for 
fresh  meat. 

Mr.  Curran  is  of  the  opinion  that  this  overland  and 
fresh-water  route  will  be  the  popular  line  of  march  when 
gold-hunters  become  familiar  with  its  merits. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS. 


213 


CHAPTER  XII. 
INTERNATIONAL  BOUNDARY  DISPUTE. 

KEW  feature  of  the  boundary  question 
has  arisen  out  ©f  the  inabihty  of  the  geo- 
graphical commission  of  the  United 
States  to  agree  with  the  determination 
of  the  Canadian  land  surveyor,  William 
Ogilvie,  as  to  the  exact  location  of  the 
141st  meridian  line,  which,  by  the  treaty 
of  St.  Petersburg,  divides  Alaska  from 
the  British  possessions.  This  seems  to 
the  unscientific  a  very  trivial  thing  to 
differ  upon,  as  the  whole  amount  of  land  involved  is  at 
the  most  a  strip  of  a  few  hundred  feet,  and  in  face  of  the 
fact  that  the  real  issue  is  the  location  of  the  coast  boun- 
dary. 

Mr.  Ogilvie  has  had  the  matter  in  hand  since  1887, 
and  his  work  has  been  very  thorough  and  doubtless  con- 
scientious. It  has  become  necessary  since  the  valuable 
discoveries  on  Forty-Mile  creek  to  fix  the  line  definitely 
and  for  some  reason — patriotism,  real  or  mistaken,  or  a 
difference  in  calculations — the  commission  has  so  far 
failed  to  agree  on  the  exact  location  of  the  meridian. 
During  the  spring,  summer  and  autumn  the  continuous 
twilight — at  midsummer  daylight — renders  invisible  the 
stars  that  are  necessary  for  accurate  observation.  Were 
telegraphic  communication  established  with  the  south 
and  east  the  portion  of  the  meridian  practically 
necessar}^  to  locate  could  be  laid  down,  with  a  prob- 
able error  of  not  exceeding,  say,  ten  feet;   but  with  the 


214  THE   CHICAGO  RECORD'S 

only  means  at  present  available  the  result  of  a  season's 
observation  by  two  of  the  most  experienced  observers 
may  differ  many  hundred  yards.  Unfavorable  meteor- 
ological conditions  are  also  serious  obstacles  to  the  work 
in  hand. 

The  first  attempt  at  defining  the  Alaskan  boundary 
was  made  by  Lieut.  Schwatka,  who  in  1883  made  a  rough 
and  necessarily  crude  survey  of  the  Lewes  and  Pelly- 
Yukon  rivers  from  their  head  to  Fort  Yukon,  situated 
near  the  mouth  of  Porcupine  river,  a  distance  of  about 
500  miles.  Lieut.  Schwatka  determined  the  position  of 
this  meridian  line  from  his  survey  and  located  it  at  the 
mouth  of  what  is  now  known  as  Mission  or  American 
creek,  on  the  headwaters  of  which  valuable  discoveries 
of  gold  were  made  on  the  Alaskan  side. 

But  in  consequence  of  numerous  representations  to 
the  Canadian  government  and  British  demands  for 
claims  in  the  gold  fields  of  the  Yukon  basin,  it  was  de- 
termined to  send  in  a  joint  geographical  and  geological 
survey  to  thoroughly  examine  that  portion  of  the  Yukon 
region  lying  in  British  territory.  For  this  purpose  Dr. 
G.  M.  Dawson,  director  of  the  geographical  survey  of 
Canada,  was  deputed  to  make  the  geological  and  Mr. 
Ogilvie  the  geographical  survey.  Dr.  Dawson's  obser- 
vations were  confined  to  the  Pelly  and  Lewes  rivers,  but 
Mr.  Ogilvie  carefully  examined  the  entire  country  from 
Pyramid  island  and  Chilkat  inlet — at  the  head  of  the 
Lynn  canal — to  the  head  of  Dyea  inlet,  thence  over  the 
Chilkoot  pass  and  down  the  lakes  and  rapids  of  the 
Lewes  and  Yukon  rivers  to  the  vicinity  of  the  141st  me- 
ridian. The  result  of  Mr.  Ogilvie's  observations  was  to 
fix  the  meridian  fifteen  miles  higher  up  the  Yukon  river 
and  nine  miles  farther  east  than  Lieut.  Schwatka's  deter- 
mination, which  latter,  however,  is  not,  from  the  nature 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  215 

of  the  survey,  entitled  to  consideration  as  a  practical 
line. 

In  1889  our  government  decided  to  verify  Mr.  Ogil- 
vie's  determination  and  dispatched  two  members  of  the 
coast-survey  staff — Messrs.  McGrath  and  Turner — to 
Alaska  to  determine  by  astronomical  observation  the  po- 
sition of  the  much-sought  meridian  line  on  the  Yukon 
and  also  on  the  Porcupine  river.  The  result  of  the  ob- 
servations was  at  first  in  favor  of  Canada,  as  against  Mr. 
Ogilvie's  determination,  and  located  the  boundary  con- 
siderably farther  w^est — otherwise,  into  Alaska — than  the 
latter  gentleman  had  done.  Lately,  however,  a  revision 
of  Mr.  McGrath's  computations  locates  the  disputed  line 
at  a  point  far  east  of  ^Mr.  Ogilvie's,  which  circumstance 
has  largely  contributed  to  the  present  difficulty. 

With  the  rapid  development  of  this  locality  it  is  unfor- 
tunate that  this  line  has  not  been  fixed,  but  the  real  rea- 
son for  the  present  uncertain  condition  of  things  is  in 
the  isolation  and  lack  of  means  of  communication. 

In  the  meantime  the  Canadian  mounted  police  are 
maintaining  order  and  making  judicial  awards  in  mining 
disputes,  without  any  particular  regard  for  the  line.  In 
relation  to  this  question  the  wish  is  often  expressed  that 
the  contention  will  be  finally  settled  by  our  government 
buying  all  the  Canadian  territory  west  of  the  ^lackenzie 
and  north  of  Portland  canal. 

It  has  always  been  currently  reported  and  believed 
that  the  international  line  crossed  at  about  Forty  Mile 
post,  leaving  that  point  just  within  Canadian  territory, 
but  instead  of  this  Mr.  Ogilvie's  observations  reveal  that 
the  meridian  at  this  latitude  is  nearly  forty  miles  up  the 
creek,  thus  giving  to  his  government  fully  one-half  of 
this  particular  placer  district.    Much  disappointment  is 


216  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

expressed  at  this  revelation,  as  most  of  the  miners  are 
Americans. 

The  United  States  officials  at  Washington  say  that 
there  is  no  necessity  for  the  miners  in  the  Klondike  dis- 
trict to  mix  jingoism  with  placer  mining.  They  say 
there  is  no  manner  of  doubt  but  that  the  Klondike  dig- 
gings are  far  enough  east  of  the  international  boundary 
line  to  bring  them  wholly  within  the  Northwest  terri- 
tory. The  Dominion  cabinet  insists  that  there  is  no 
necessity  for  any  discussion  whatever  in  regard  to  the 
location  of  the  boundary  line  so  far  as  the  Klondike 
region  is  concerned,  and  the  Canadian  officials  are  col- 
lecting a  license  tax  of  $15  from  each  prospector  and  will 
collect  an  annual  fee  of  $100  for  each  claim  worked  in 
the  Klondike  district.  The  customs  officials  are  collect- 
ing quite  a  revenue  by  making  the  American  miners  pay 
an  importation  tax  on  the  personal  belongings  brought 
into  the  Klondike  district. 

The  boundary-line  dispute,  while  it  is  a  matter  of  live 
interest  to  the  people  of  Alaska,  has  never  been  taken 
very  seriously.  It  is  freely  conceded  that  the  Canadians 
may  change  their  maps  any  way  they  like  to  suit  their 
taste  in  such  matters,  and  may  afterward  get  what  con- 
solation they  can  cut  of  such  maps.  The  line  which  has 
been  practically  recognized  in  matters  pertaining  to  cus- 
toms and  to  all  other  frontier  relations  begins  at  the 
south  end  of  Prince  of  Wales  island,  at  the  natural  divi- 
sion afforded  by  Dixon  entrance,  and  runs  thence  east- 
ward in  open  water  to  the  entrance  of  Portland  canal, 
or,  as  it  was  termed  in  the  original  agreement,  Portland 
channel.  The  line  follows  up  this  inlet  to  its  head,  which 
happens  to  be  at  its  intersection  with  the  56th  parallel, 
and  so  that  degree  of  latitude  was  agreed  upon  as  a 
corner.    To  this  point  the  boundary  could  hardly  admit 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  217 

of  any  controversy.  It  is  true  that  the  Canadians  claim 
that  Behm  canal  was  meant  instead  of  the  Portland,  but 
that  is  very  unlikely,  as  Behm  canal  has  no  particular 
head,  being  a  strait  instead  of  an  inlet,  and  not  being 
a  natural  division  as  is  the  line  that  has  always  been 
recognized. 

At  the  time  this  line  was  established,  which  was  in  the 
year  1825,  the  English  had  no  conception  of  the  value 
or  of  the  topography  of  the  country.  It  was  necessary 
to  fix  a  definite  line,  but  the  territory  was  esteemed  of 
no  value,  and  the  motives  governing  the  transaction 
were  sentimental  rather  than  practical.  From  the  point 
at  the  intersection  of  the  56th  parallel  it  was  thought  fair 
to  continue  on  natural  lines.  The  coast  range  of  moun- 
tains was  known  to  be  the  continental  divide  or  water- 
shed between  the  Pacific  and  Arctic  oceans.  It  was  as- 
sumed that  the  summit  was  a  comparatively  regular  line 
parallel  with  the  coast  and  only  a  few  miles  back  from 
it,  and  so  the  agreement  was  made  on  this  basis,  with 
the  provision,  however,  that  the  Russian  territory  was 
not  to  extend  more  than  ten  leagues  inland.  This  thirty- 
mile  strip  was  to  continue  up  the  coast  about  700  miles 
to  another  natural  corner  which  had  been  previously  rec- 
ognized in  Mount  St.  Elias;  or  to  the  intersection  of  this 
coast-strip  limit  with  the  141st  degree  of  west  longitude. 
From  Mount  St.  Elias  the  line  is  due  north  to  the  frozen 
ocean. 

This  coast  strip  or  pan-handle  of  Alaska  is  the  part 
that  has  been  in  contention.  Since  the  agreement  of 
1825  it  has  developed  that  the  natural  line  which  was 
evidently  contemplated  by  the  convention  is  so  irregular 
as  to  be  wholly  impractical,  or,  rather,  includes  more  ter- 
ritory than  we  have  ever  claimed.  The  continental  di- 
vide is  a  zigzag  line  that  might  easily  be  3,000  miles  long 


218  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

and  still  be  within  the  corners  mentioned,  and  varying 
from  twenty  to  500  miles  inland.  In  only  one  or  two  in- 
stances does  it  approach  to  within  thirty  miles  of  the 
coast,  and  the  average  width  of  the  Pacific  slope  would 
hardly  fall  below  100  miles. 

It  is  reasonable,  however,  to  think  that  this  is  the 
natural  line  that  both  parties  to  the  convention  thought 
they  were  providing  for  a  boundary,  and  it  is  obvious 
that  if  they  had  possessed  full  knowledge  of  the  country 
the  line  would  have  followed  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
summit  of  the  range,  giving  Alaska  a  strip  two  or  three 
times  wider. 

As  it  was  impossible  to  follow  the  watershed,  it  was 
likewise  impractical  to  parallel  the  coast  line.  Alaska  is 
indented  by  thousands  of  inlets,  straits  and  arms.  As  it 
was  impossible  to  describe  a  margin  that  would  follow 
closely  all  these  inlets,  the  boundary  that  has  always  been 
recognized  as  a  comparatively  even  line  based  on  points 
thirty  miles  inland  from  the  heads  of  the  principal  inlets. 
To  take  anything  less  than  that  for  a  basis — as,  for  in- 
stance, a  line  drawn  from  headland  to  headland — would 
give  Alaska  only  the  chain  of  islands  and  a  few  rocky 
promontories,  with  the  coast  line  broken  in  a  hundred 
places. 

Any  concession  that  our  government  might  make  to 
the  Canadians  would  be  purely  gratuitous,  and  would 
be  detrimental  to  the  progress  of  the  country.  It  would 
make  very  little  difference  in  practice  to  any  individual 
whether  the  country  was  all  owned  by  Great  Britain  or 
by  the  United  States.  In  practical  affairs  there  would  be 
no  hardships  experienced  in  living  under  either  govern- 
ment. But  the  people  of  Alaska  are  very  loyal  and  in- 
tensely American,  and  out  of  pure  sentiment,  if  for  no 
Qther  reason,  would  oppose  any  concession  whatever; 


SLUICING. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  221 

and  aside  from  sentiment  they  would  have  very  practical 
reasons  for  opposing  a  broken  coast  line. 

Boundary  lines  are  demoralizing  and  expensive  any- 
where, and  are  especially  so  in  thinly  settled  and  isolated 
countries.  Customs  regulations  cannot  be  enforced,  or, 
if  they  are  maintained,  they  cost  much  more  than  they 
"come  to."  As  a  practical  illustration,  some  enterpris- 
ing individuals  shipped  by  way  of  the  Chilkoot  pass, 
through  American  territory,  a  consignment  of  150  ten- 
gallon  kegs  of  liquor  in  Bond.  A  special  officer  of  the 
revenue  department  was  sworn  in  to  accompany  the  ship- 
ment to  the  British  Columbia  line  at  Lake  Bennett, 
where  it  was  released  from  bond.  There  was  absolutely 
no  secret  about  the  whole  plan.  There  was  enough 
whisky  in  the  shipment  to  keep  every  man  on  the  Cana- 
dian side  hilariously  drunk  for  fifty  years.  When  it  was 
released  they  loaded  it  into  barges  at  their  convenience 
and  quietly  floated  it  down  Lewes  river  to  the  Yukon 
and  to  Forty  Mile  post,  and  then  on  into  American 
territory  again  to  Circle  City  and  all  the  lower  Yukon 
mining  districts,  where  they  retailed  it  to  the  miners  and 
Indians.  Thus  they  evaded  the  federal  customs  duty  and 
also  defeated  the  liquor  regulations  of  the  district.  It  is 
estimated  that,  acquitting  them  of  any  intention  of  adul- 
terating their  stock,  the  shipment  yielded  $48,000. 

With  a  broken  coast  line  the  revenue  laws,  the  liquor 
and  immigration  restrictions  would  be  almost  a  dead 
letter,  and  Alaska,  instead  of  being  a  valuable  possession 
to  our  government  and  an  attractive  field  for  legitimate 
enterprise,  would  be  a  thorn  in  her  side  and  a  veritable 
Cuba  for  corruption. 

The  claims  of  Great  Britain  to  a  big  share  of  Alaska 
promise  to  occupy  a  large  amount  of  public  attention 
for  some  time  to  come.    The  claim  is  regarded  by  gov- 


222  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

eminent  officials  here  as  preposterous.  The  senate,  be- 
fore which  the  boundary  question  was  brought  as  the 
outcome  of  a  treaty  negotiated  by  Secretary  Ohiey  and 
Sir  Juhan  Pauncefote,  did  not  place  itself  on  record  in 
the  matter,  however.  Before  a  vote  was  taken  congress 
adjourned,  so  that  the  location  of  the  divisional  line, 
which  has  been  in  dispute  since  1884,  is  no  nearer  settle- 
ment than  it  has  been  at  any  period  in  the  last  thirteen 
years. 

A  United  States  government  official  said  in  regard 
to  the  international  boundary  line  dispute: 

"On  all  maps  from  1825  down  to  1884  the  boundary 
line  had  been  shown  as  in  general  terms  parallel  to  the 
winding  of  the  coast,  and  thirty-five  miles  from  it.  In 
1884,  however,  an  official  Canadian  map  showed  a 
marked  deflection  in  this  line  at  its  south  end.  Instead 
of  passing  up  Portland  channel  this  Canadian  map 
showed  the  boundary  as  passing  up  Behm  canal,  an 
arm  of  the  sea  some  sixty  or  seventy  miles  west  of  Port- 
land channel,  this  change  having  been  made  on  the  bare 
assertion  that  the  words  'Portland  canal/  as  inserted, 
were  erroneous.  By  this  change  the  line,  and  an  area 
of  American  territory  about  equal  in  size  to  the  state  of 
Connecticut,  was  transferred  to  British  territory.  There 
are  three  facts  which  go  to  show  that  this  map  was  in- 
correct. In  the  first  place,  the  British  admiralty,  when 
surveying  the  northern  limit  of  the  British  Columbian 
possessions  in  1868,  one  year  after  the  cession  of  Alaska, 
surveyed  Portland  canal,  and  not  Behm  canal,  and  thus 
by  implication  admitted  this  canal  to  be  the  boundary 
line.  Second,  the  region  now  claimed  by  British  Colum- 
bia was  at  that  time  occupied  as  a  military  post  of  the 
United  States  without  objection  or  protest  on  the  part 
of  British  Columbia.    Third,  Annette  Island,  in  this  re- 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  223 

gion,  was  by  act  of  Congress  four  years  ago  set  apart 
as  a  reservation  for  the  use  of  the  Metlaktala  Indians, 
who  sought  asylum  under  the  American  flag.  The  very 
latest  Canadian  map,  published  at  Ottawa  within  a  few 
days,  while  it  runs  no  line  at  all  southeast  of  Alaska, 
prints  the  legend,  British  Columbia,  over  portions  of  the 
Lynn  canal  which  are  now  administered  by  the  United 
States." 

A  recent  report  of  the  United  States  surveyors  as  to 
the  boundary  line  in  this  region  said:  "In  substance, 
these  delimitations  throw  the  diggings  at  the  mouth  of 
Forty  Mile  creek  within  the  territory  of  the  United 
States.  The  whole  valley  of  Birch  creek,  another  most 
valuable  gold-producing  part  of  the  country,  is  also 
in  the  United  States.  Most  of  the  gold  is  to  the  west 
of  the  crossing  of  the  141st  meridian  at  Forty  Mile  creek. 
If  we  produce  the  141st  meridian  on  a  chart  the  mouth 
of  Miller's  creek,  a  tributary  of  Sixty  Mile  creek,  and  a 
valuable  gold  region,  is  five  miles  west  in  an  air  line, 
or  seven  miles,  according  to  the  winding  of  the  stream, 
all  within  the  territory  of  the  United  States.  In  sub- 
stance the  only  places  in  the  Yukon  region  where  gold 
in  quantity  has  been  found  are  therefore  all  to  the  west 
of  the  boundary  line  between  Canada  and  the  United 
States,  with  the  exception  of  the  Klondike  region." 

Nothing  can  be  done  more  than  already  has  been  done 
toward  marking  the  boundary  line  between  Alaska  and 
the  British  possessions  along  the  141st  meridian  until 
the  senate  passes  upon  the  boundary  treaty  now  before 
it.  There  is,  however,  no  doubt  of  the  location  of  the 
line  along  this  meridian,  and  most  people  in  the  locality 
know  where  it  is.  The  demarkation  work  was  superin- 
tended by  General  Duffield,  superintendent  of  the  coast 
and  geodetic  survey,  on  behalf  of  the  United  States.    He 


224  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

expresses  the  opinion  that  a  railroad  can  be  easily  con- 
structed from  TakoLi  inlet  to  the  Klondike  gold  fields,  and 
believes  that  the  enterprise  will  be  worth  undertaking, 
because  of  the  richness  of  the  mines. 

"The  gold,"  said  General  Duffield,  "has  been  ground 
out  of  the  quartz  by  the  pressure  of  the  glaciers,  which 
lie  and  move  along  the  courses  of  the  streams,  exerting 
a  tremendous  pressure.  This  force  is  present  to  a  more 
appreciable  extent  in  Alaska  than  elsewhere,  and  I  be- 
lieve that  as  a  consequence  more  placer  gold  will  be 
found  in  that  region  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world." 

General  Duffield  thinks  the  gold  hunters  on  the  Amer- 
ican side  of  the  line  have  made  the  mistake  of  prospect- 
ing the  large  streams  instead  of  the  small  ones.  "When 
gold  is  precipitated/'  he  said,  "it  sinks.  It  does  not  float 
far  down  the  stream.  It  is  therefore  to  be  looked  for 
along  the  small  creeks  and  about  the  head  waters  of  the 
larger  tributaries  of  the  Yukon.  There  is  no  reason  why 
as  rich  finds  may  not  be  made  on  the  American  side  of 
the  line  as  in  the  Klondike  district." 

Prof.  George  Davidson,  for  many  years  at  the  head  of 
the  United  States  geodetic  survey  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
speaking  of  the  boundary  line  dispute,  said: 

"The  main  features  of  the  boundary  line  between 
Alaska  and  Canada  are  the  irregular  line  extending  from 
the  head  of  Portland  inlet,  in  latitude  56  degrees,  around 
the  waters  of  the  great  archipelago  Alexander  at  a  dis- 
tance of  not  greater  than  ten  marine  leagues  from  the 
continental  shore,  to  the  141st  meridian  west  of  Green- 
wich, and  the  straight  line  running  thence  to  the  Arctic 
ocean  on  that  meridian.  Where  this  irregular  line  meets 
the  141st  meridian  rises  the  great  Mount  St.  Elias,  which 
is  in  latitude  60  degrees  17  minutes  and  34.4  seconds  and 
longitude  140  degrees  55  minutes  and  19.6  seconds.    This 


BOOK   FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  225 

peak  is  about  twenty-seven  statute  miles  from  the  ocean 
shore.  From  a  point  on  the  141st  meridian  and  probably 
in  nearly  the  same  latitude  as  Mount  St.  Elias,  the  boun- 
dary line  runs  through  north  to  a  demarkation  point  on 
the  Arctic  shores,  a  distance  of  660  statute  miles.  In  this 
great  distance  the  line  crosses  comparatively  few  large 
streams.  At  100  miles  it  crosses  the  headwaters  of  the 
White  river,  a  tributary  of  the  Yukon,  flowing  to  the 
north-northwest;  at  205  miles  an  unnamed  tributary  of 
the  White  river;  at  the  last  distance  on  the  boundary 
line  the  Yukon  river  lies  forty  miles  to  the  eastward,  at 
a  point  known  as  the  Upper  Ramparts.  The  river  con- 
tinues on  a  northerly  course,  nearly  parallel  with  the 
boundary  line  for  seventy-five  miles,  to  old  Fort  Reli- 
ance, near  the  Klondike,  and  thence  trends  seventy-five 
miles  to  the  northwest  by  north,  where  the  boundary 
line  crosses  it  at  335  miles  from  Alount  St.  Elias. 

"The  headwaters  of  the  main  tributary,  the  Lewes 
river,  reach  into  Alaskan  territory  at  the  White  pass,  the 
Chilkoot  pass  and  the  Chilkat  pass,  just  north  of  Lynn 
canal.  The  geographical  position  of  Fort  Reliance,  an 
old  station  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company,  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Yukon  river,  is  latitude  64  degrees  13  min- 
utes, longitude  138  degrees  50  minutes,  or  fifty  statute 
miles  east  of  the  boundary  line  of  the  141st  degree.  The 
stream  named  Klondike  creek  enters  the  Yukon  about 
six  or  eight  miles  higher  up  than  Fort  Reliance,  and  on 
the  same  side  of  the  river.  So  far  as  known  it  comes  from 
the  east-northeast  for  about  100  miles,  and  is  reported 
navigable  by  canoes  for  forty  or  fifty  miles  from  its 
mouth. 

"Whatever  doubt  has  been  cast  upon  the  position  of 
the  whole  Klondike  district  being  in  British  Columbia 
must  have  arisen  from  a  misunderstanding  of  the  dispute 


226  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

existing  upon  the  proper  location  of  that  part  of  the 
boundary  line  lying  eastward  and  southward  of  Mount 
St.  Elias.  The  north,  or  meridian  line  of  the  boundary 
has  been  accurately  determined.  The  latest  information 
places  the  independent  determinations  of  this  meridian 
made  by  the  two  governments  at  the  boundary  line  with- 
in the  width  of  a  San  Francisco  pavement.  So  there  can- 
not be  much  if  any  friction  between  the  two  governments 
upon  this  question.  The  only  local  dispute  that  could 
possibly  arise  would  be  in  the  Forty-Mile  creek  district, 
because  the  boundary  line  crosses  sharp,  steep  mountain 
ridges  of  2,500  and  3,000  feet  elevation,  and  inferior  in- 
strumental means  might  cause  a  slight  doubt  of  the 
direction  in  some  instances.  However,  no  dispute  has 
arisen  in  the  district,  nor  is  it  likely  that  any  will  occur. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  line  has  been  satisfactorily 
laid  down." 

Canadian  ofBcials  say  that  recent  publications  relating 
to  the  claims  of  Great  Britain  to  a  large  share  of  Alaska 
are  due  to  a  misconception  of  the  meaning  of  the  desig- 
nation, "British  Columbia"  and  "undefined  boundary"  as 
printed  on  the  map  issued  recently. 

"We  refrained  from  plotting  any  boundary  line  in  that 
part  of  the  territory  constituting  the  coast  strip  running 
south  and  east  from  Mount  St.  Elias,"  said  the  surveyor- 
general  of  Canada.  "In  fact,  the  map  was  issued,  as  is 
well  understood  in  Toronto,  at  the  earnest  demand  of  the 
public  for  reliable  data  as  to  the  location  of  the  newly  dis- 
covered gold  fields  and  the  best  routes  of  access  thereto. 
It  is  compiled  from  the  latest  information  and  surveys 
in  our  possession,  and  in  so  far  as  the  physical  features 
of  the  country  are  concerned  may  be  taken  as  correct. 
So,  too,  is  it  absolutely  correct  as  to  the  boundary  be- 
tween Alaska  and  our  Northwest  territories. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  227 

"The  determination  of  the  point  of  intersection  of  the 
west  coast  boundary  line  with  the  141st  meridian  seems 
to  have  been  jointly  agreed  upon  by  American  and  Cana- 
dian officials,  for  it  has  been  authoritatively  stated  that 
the  peak  of  Mount  St.  Elias,  always  claimed  by  the  United 
States,  was  found  to  be  about  two  miles  on  the  Canadian 
side  of  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  true  boundary  lines, 
but  that  Great  Britain  had  agreed  to  allow  the 
peak  of  the  mountains  to  mark  the  point  of  intersec- 
tion of  the  coast  and  meridian  boundary  lines.  Canadian 
surveyors  have  marked  the  boundary  at  the  most  import- 
ant points  in  the  Yukon  country  for  the  convenience  of 
officials, 

"The  report  of  the  United  States  surveyors  shows  that 
there  is  no  appreciable  difference  between  the  determina- 
tions of  the  two  parties.  On  our  map  just  issued  you  will 
see  Birch  creek  marked  wholly  within  Alaska,  the  mouth 
of  it  being  some  350  miles  west  of  the  141st  meridian, 
as  we  have  laid  it  down;  neither  can  there  be  any  dispute 
as  to  the  boundary  crossing  of  Forty  Mile  creek.  In  fact, 
I  may  tell  you  the  exact  difference  there  between  the  two 
surveys  is  six  feet.  There  is,  therefore,  no  shadow  of 
foundation  for  this  revival  of  the  exploded  story  of  Cana- 
dian land  grabbing." 


22S 


THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 


tensified     in 
tries      by 
fringe      of 


CHAPTER  XIIL 
COLD  WINTERS  AND  SHORT   SUMMERS. 

NDER  the  direction  of  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture Wilson,  Prof.  IMoore,  chief  of  the 
weather  bureau,  has  made  public  a  state- 
ment in  regard  to  the  climate  of  Alaska. 
He  says: 

"The  climates  of  the  coast  and  of  the 
interior  of  Alaska  are  unlike  in  many  re- 
spects, and  the  differences  are  in- 
this  as  perhaps  in  few  other  coun- 
exceptional  physical  conditions.  The 
islands  that  separates  the  mainland 
from  the  Pacific  ocean  from  Dixon  sound  north 
and  also  a  strip  of  the  mainland  for  possibly  twenty  miles 
back  from  the  sea,  following  the  sweep  of  the  coast  as  it 
curves  in  a  northwesterly  direction  to  the  western  ex- 
tremity of  Alaska,  forms  a  distinct  climatic  division, 
which  may  be  termed  temperate  Alaska.  The  tempera- 
ture rarely  falls  to  zero;  winter  does  not  set  in  until  De- 
cember I,  and  by  the  last  of  Alay  the  snow  has  disap- 
peared, except  on  the  mountains.  The  mean  winter  tem- 
perature of  Sitka  is  32.5  degrees — but  little  lower  than 
that  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

"The  rainfall  of  temperate  Alaska  is  noted  the  world 
over,  not  only  as  regards  the  quantity  that  falls,  but  also 
as  to  the  manner  of  its  falling — in  long  and  incessant 
rains  and  drizzles.  Cloud  and  fog  naturally  abound, 
there  being  on  an  average  but  sixty-six  clear  days  in  the 
year.     North  of  the  Aleutian  islands  the  coast  climate 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  231 

becomes  more  rigorous  in  winter,  but  in  summer  the  dif- 
ference is  much  less  marked. 

"The  cHmate  of  the  interior,  including  in  that  desig- 
nation practically  all  of  the  country  except  a  narrow 
fringe  of  coast  margin  and  the  territory'  before  referred 
to  as  temperate  Alaska,  is  one  of  extreme  rigor  in  winter, 
with  a  short  but  relatively  hot  summer,  especially  when 
the  sky  is  free  from  cloud. 

"In  the  Klondike  region  in  midwinter  the  sun  rises 
from  9:30  to  10  a.  m.  and  sets  from  2  to  3  p.  m.,  the  total 
length  of  daylight  being  about  four  hours.  Remember- 
ing that  the  sun  rises  but  a  few  degrees  above  the  horizon 
and  that  it  is  wholly  obscured  on  a  great  many  days,  the 
character  of  the  winter  months  may  easily  be  imagined. 
We  are  indebted  to  the  United  States  coast  and  geodetic 
survey  for  a  series  of  six  months'  observations  on  the 
Yukon,  not  far  from  the  site  of  the  present  gold  dis- 
coveries. The  obsei"vations  were  made  with  standard 
instruments  and  are  wholly  reliable. 

"The  mean  temperatures  of  the  months  from  October, 
1889,  to  April,  1890,  both  inclusive,  are  as  follows: 

"October,  33  degrees;  November,  8  degrees;  Decem- 
ber, II  degrees  below  zero;  January,  17  below  zero; 
February,  15  below  zero;  March,  6  above;  April,  20 
above.  The  daily  mean  temperature  fell  and  remained 
below  the  freezing  point  (32  degrees)  from  November  4, 
1889,  to  April  21,  1890,  thus  giving  168  days  as  the  length 
of  the  closed  season  of  1889-90,  assuming  that  outdoor 
operations  are  controlled  by  temperature  only.  The 
lowest  temperatures  registered  during  the  winter  were 
32  degrees  below  zero  in  November,  47  below  in  Decem- 
ber, 59  below  in  January,  55  below  in  February,  45  below 
in  March  and  26  below  in  April.  The  greatest  continu- 
ous cold  occurred  in  February,  1890,  when  the  daily 
12 


232  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

mean  for  five  consecutive  days  was  47  degrees  belov/ 
zero. 

"Greater  cold  than  that  here  noted  has  been  experi- 
enced in  the  United  States  for  a  very  short  time,  but 
never  has  it  continued  so  very  cold  for  so  long  a  time. 
In  the  interior  of  Alaska  the  winter  sets  in  as  early  as 
September,  when  snowstorms  may  be  expected  in  the 
mountains  and  passes.  Headway  during  one  of  those 
storms  is  impossible,  and  the  traveler  who  is  overtaken  by 
one  of  them  is  fortunate  if  he  escapes  with  his  life.  Snow- 
storms of  great  severity  may  occur  in  any  month  from 
September  to  May,  inclusive. 

"The  changes  of  temperature  from  winter  to  summer 
are  rapid,  owing  to  the  great  increase  in  the  length  of 
the  day.  In  May  the  sun  rises  at  about  3  a.  m.  and  sets 
about  9  p.  m.  In  June  it  rises  at  1 130  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing and  sets  about  10:30  o'clock,  giving  about  twenty 
hours  of  daylight,  and  dififuses  twilight  the  remainder  of 
the  time.  The  mean  summer  temperature  in  the  interior 
doubtless  ranges  between  60  and  70  degrees,  according 
to  elevation,  being  highest  in  the  middle  and  lower  Yu- 
kon valleys." 

The  average  temperature  at  Fort  Cudahy,  as  reported 
by  the  North  American  Transportation  and  Trading 
company,  during  the  months  of  November,  December, 
January  and  February  last  year,  was  very  close  to  20 
degrees  below  zero.  The  average  for  November  was 
17^  degrees  below  zero;  for  December  and  January,  22 
below,  and  for  February  about  20  below.  The  lowest 
temperature  recorded  was  70  degrees  below  zero.  The 
temperature  for  the  month  of  September  was  about  zero. 

The  snowfall  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Cudahy  is  only 
about  two  feet  during  the  winter,  although  it  is  as  much 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  233 

as  twenty  feet  along  the  coast,  where  the  influence  of  the 
Japan  current  is  felt. 

The  mean  temperature  of  the  air  and  of  the  surface 
sea-water  and  the  precipitation  for  each  month  of  the 
year  at  Sitka  are  thus  given  by  the  United  States  coast 
and  geodetic  survey  in  its  Alaska  "Coast  Pilots"  of  1883 
and  1891: 

Temp,  of 

Temp,  of  surface  Precipita- 

the  air,  sea-water.  tion. 

January 31.4  39.0  7.35 

February 32.9  39.0  6.45 

March 35.7  35.5  5.29 

April 40.8  42.0  5.17 

May 47.0  46.5  4.13 

June 52.4  48.0  3.62 

July 55-5  49-0  4-i9 

August 55.9  50.0  6.96 

September 51.5  51.5  9.66 

October 44.9  48.9  11.83 

November 38.1  44.4  8.65 

December 33.3  41.7  8.39 

Year 43.3  45.0  81.69 

Assistant  Surgeon  A.  E.  Wells  of  the  Northwestern 
mounted  police,  in  his  report  to  the  Canadian  govern- 
ment, 1895,  VvTote:  "It  may  be  of  interest  to  mention 
something  concerning  the  climate,  mode  of  living  of  the 
people  generally,  and  diseases  met  with. 

"The  climate  is  wet.  The  rainfall  last  summer  was 
heavy.  Although  there  is  almost  a  continuous  sun  in 
summer  time,  evaporation  is  very  slow  owing  to  the 
thick  moss  which  will  not  conduct  the  heat,  in  conse- 
quence the  ground  is  always  swampy.  It  is  only  after 
several  years  of  draining  that  ground  will  become  suffi- 
ciently dry  to  allow  the  frost  to  go  out,  and  then  only  for 


234  TH3   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

a  few  feet.  During-  tlie  winter  months  the  cold  is  in- 
tense, wnth  usually  considerable  wind. 

"A  heavy  mist  rising  from  open  places  in  the  river 
settles  down  in  the  valley  in  calm  extreme  weather.  This 
dampness  makes  the  cold  to  be  felt  much  more  and  is  con- 
ducive to  rheumatic  pains,  colds,  etc. 

"Miners  are  a  very  mixed  class  of  people.  They  rep- 
resent many  nationalities  and  come  from  all  climates. 
Their  lives  are  certainly  not  enviable.  The  regulation 
'miners'  cabin'  is  twelve  by  fourteen  feet,  with  walls 
six  feet  and  gables  eight  feet  in  height.  The  roof  is 
heavily  earthed,  and  the  cabin  is  generally  very  warm. 
Two,  and  sometimes  three  or  four  men,  will  occupy  a 
house  of  this  size.  The  ventilation  is  usually  bad.  Those 
miners  who  do  not  work  their  claims  during  the  winter 
confine  themselves  in  these  small  huts  most  of  the  time. 

"Very  often  they  become  indolent  and  careless,  only 
eating  those  things  which  are  most  easily  cooked  or  pre- 
pared. During  the  busy  time  in  summer  when  they  are 
'shoveling  in,'  they  work  hard  and  for  long  hours,  sparing 
little  time  for  eating  and  much  less  for  cooking. 

"This  manner  of  living  is  quite  common  amongst  be- 
ginners, and  soon  leads  to  debility  and  sometimes  to 
scurvy.  Old  miners  have  learned  from  experience  to 
value  health  more  than  gold,  and  they  therefore  spare 
no  expense  in  procuring  the  best  and  most  varied  out- 
fit of  food  that  can  be  obtained. 

"In  a  cold  climate  such  as  this,  where  it  is  impossible 
to  get  fresh  vegetables  and  fruits,  it  is  most  important 
that  the  best  substitutes  for  these  should  be  provided. 
Nature  helps  to  supply  these  wants  by  growing  cranber- 
ries and  other  wild  fruits  in  abundance,  but  men  in  sum- 
mer are  usually  too  busy  to  avail  themselves  of  these. 

"The  diseases  met  with  in  this  country  are  dyspepsia, 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  235 

anaemia,  scurvy,  caused  by  improperly  cooked  food, 
sameness  of  diet,  overwork,  want  of  fresh  vegetables, 
overheated  and  badly  ventilated  houses;  rheumatism, 
pneumonia,  bronchitis,  enteritis,  cystitis  and  other  acute 
diseases,  from  exposure  to  wet  and  cold;  debility  and 
chronic  diseases  due  to  excesses.  One  case  of  typhoid 
fever  occurred  in  Forty  Mile  last  fall,  probably  due  to 
drinking  water  polluted  with  decayed  vegetable  matter. 

"In  selecting  men  to  relieve  in  this  country  I  beg  to 
submit  a  few  remarks,  some  of  which  will  be  of  assistance 
to  the  medical  examiners  in  making  their  recommenda- 
tions. 

"Men  should  be  sober,  strong  and  healthy.  They 
should  be  practical  men,  able  to  adapt  themselves  quickly 
to  their  surroundings.  Special  care  should  be  taken  to 
see  that  their  lungs  are  sound,  that  they  are  free  from 
rheumatism  and  rheumatic  tendency,  and  that  their 
joints,  especially  knee  joints,  are  strong  and  have  never 
been  weakened  by  injury,  synovitis  or  other  disease.  It 
is  also  very  important  to  consider  their  temperaments. 
Men  should  be  of  cheerful,  hopeful  dispositions  and  will- 
ing workers.  Those  of  sullen,  morose  natures,  although 
they  may  be  good  workers,  are  very  apt,  as  soon  as  the 
novelty  of  the  country  wears  off,  to  become  dissatisfied, 
pessimistic  and  melancholy." 

Numerous  letters  from  Dawson  City  and  Circle  City 
speak  of  scurvy  as  a  disease  which  in  the  winter  time 
seems  to  be  prevalent.  In  almost  every  instance  the 
writer  urges  that  lime-juice  should  form  one  of  the  essen- 
tials in  the  Klondiker's  pack. 

According  to  the  accepted  medical  authority,  scurvy 
is  the  result  of  an  insufficient  supply  of  potash  salts, 
owing  to  an  inadequate  diet  of  fresh  vegetables.  But 
the  mere  administration  of  these  salts  will  not  prevent 


236  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

or  cure  the  disease,  which  is  a  dreadful  one  if  not 
checked.  The  symptoms  come  on  gradually,  being  rec- 
ognized by  a  failure  of  strength  and  exhaustion  at  slight 
exertion.  The  countenance  becomes  sallow  or  dusky, 
eyes  sunken,  and  constant  pains  are  felt  in  all  the  mus- 
cles. After  some  weeks  utter  prostration  ensues;  the 
appearance  is  most  haggard;  great  trouble  is  experi- 
enced with  the  mouth,  sore  gums,  and  teeth  falling  out; 
the  breath  is  extremely  offensive;  finally  come  swell- 
ings and  dark  spots  on  the  body,  with  bleeding  from 
the  mucous  membrane;  then  painful,  extensive  and  de- 
structive ulcers  break  out  on  the  limbs;  finally  diarrhoea, 
pulmonary  or  kidney  trouble  may  give  fatal  result.  But 
even  in  desperate  cases  a  return  to  fresh  vegetable  diet 
will  cure,  as  will  also,  usually,  lime  juice.  Lime  juice 
has  driven  scurvy  from  the  ocean,  where  it  once  counted 
its  dead  in  every  far-going  ship's  annals.  It  is  now  a 
slang  term  to  describe  an  old  salt.  Sailors  at  sea  are 
given  a  small  daily  allowance  of  lime  juice  (which  is  gen- 
erally badly  adulterated),  and  they  swallow  it  with  a 
little  water  at  meals. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  237 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
PROF.  SPURR'S  REPORT. 

11  ARLY  in  1896  the  United  States  govern- 
ment sent  Prof.  J.  S.  Spurr,  H.  B.  Good- 
rich and  F.  C.  Schrader,  of  the  Geolog- 
ical Survey,  into  the  Yukon  district.  The 
chief  of  the  survey  was  Prof.  Spurr. 
Soon  after  the  news  from  the  Klondike 
was  received  in  this  country  Prof.  Spurr 
anticipated  the  report  he  is  to  make  to 
the  chief  of  his  department  by  writing  a  statement  for 
the  information  of  those  who  were  seized  with  the  gold 
fever.    The  statement  reads  as  follows : 

"Much  has  been  written  of  late  concerning  the  possi- 
bilities of  Alaska  as  a  gold-producing  country.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  production  of  the  present  year  may 
be  roughly  estimated  at  $3,000,000;  this  amount,  how- 
ever, comes  from  an  immense  region  of  half  a  million 
square  miles,  or  about  one-quarter  as  large  as  the  United 
States.  Of  the  mines  which  produce  this  gold,  some  are 
in  the  bed-rock,  while  others  are  placer  diggings. 

"The  bedrock  mines  are  few  in  number  and  situated 
on  the  southeast  coast,  which  is  the  most  accessible  part 
of  the  territory.  The  chief  one  is  the  great  Treadwell 
mine  near  Juneau,  and  there  are  also  important  mines 
at  Berner's  bay,  at  the  Island  of  Unga  and  other  places. 
The  latest  strike  is  the  Klondike.  Most  of  these  mines, 
however,  are  in  low-grade  ore,  and  the  production  is 
only  made  profitable  by  means  of  careful  management 
and  operations  on  a  very  large  scale. 


23S  THE   CHICAGO   RECORDS 

"The  placer  mines  are  those  which  occupy  the  most 
prominent  place  in  the  popular  mind,  since  they  are  re- 
mote from  civilization  and  in  a  country  about  which 
little  is  known,  and  which  is,  on  account  of  this  uncer- 
tainty, dangerously  attractive  to  the  average  man.  This 
gold-producing  country  of  the  interior  is  mostly  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Yukon  river  or  of  some  of  its  immediate 
tributaries. 

"The  most  productive  districts  before  the  Klondike 
discovery  have  been  the  Forty  Mile  district,  which  lies 
partly  in  American  and  partly  in  British  territory,  and 
the  Birch  creek  district,  which  lies  in  American  territory. 
Some  gold  diggings  are  also  supposed  to  exist  on  Stew- 
art river,  and  some  gold  has  been  shipped  from  the 
Koykuk.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  past  season  dig- 
gings were  also  found  on  the  Klundek  and  Indian  rivers 
near  Forty  Mile. 

"Another  place  concerning  which  there  have  been 
many  vague  rumors  of  gold,  causing  a  stampede  of  many 
unprepared  and  unfitted  men,  is  the  Cook  Inlet  country, 
which  lies  on  the  coast  above  the  mouth  of  Copper  river, 
a  situation  remote  alike  from  the  mines  near  Juneau 
and  from  the  placer  mines  on  the  Yukon. 

"In  all  this  immense  country  over  which  placer  dig- 
ging is  carried  on,  or  has  been  carried  on,  I  estimate 
that  there  are  about  2,000  miners.  They  are  mostly  in 
the  Yukon  districts.  These  districts  lie  in  a  broad  belt 
of  gold-producing  rocks,  having  a  considerable  width 
and  extending  in  a  general  east  and  west  direction  for 
several  hundred  miles.  Throughout  this  belt  occur  quartz 
veins  which  carry  gold,  but  so  far  as  yet  found  the  ore 
is  of  low  grade,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  veins  have 
been  so  broken  by  movements  in  the  rocks  that  they  can- 
not be  followed.     For  this  reason  the  mines  in  the  bed 


COPPER    RIVER   GOLD   DISTRICT. 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  241 

rock  cannot  be  worked,  except  on  a  large  scale  with  im- 
proved machinery,  and  even  such  operations  are  impos- 
sible until  the  general  conditions  of  the  country,  in  refer- 
ence to  transportation  and  supplies,  are  improved. 

"Through  the  gold-bearing  rocks  the  streams  have 
cut  deep  gullies  and  canyons,  and  in  their  beds  the  gold 
which  was  contained  in  the  rocks  which  have  been  worn 
away  is  concentrated,  so  that  from  a  large  amount  of 
very  low-grade  rock  there  may  be  formed  in  places  a 
gravel  sufficiently  rich  in  gold  to  repay  washing.  All 
the  mining  which  is  done  in  this  country,  therefore,  con- 
sists in  the  washing  out  of  these  gravels. 

"In  each  gulch  on  the  American  side  prospectors  are 
at  liberty  to  stake  out  claims  not  already  taken,  the  size 
of  the  claims  being  determined  by  vote  of  all  the  miners 
in  each  gulch,  according  to  the  richness  of  the  gravel. 
The  usual  length  of  a  claim  is  about  500  feet  along  the 
stream  and  the  total  width  of  the  gulch  bed,  which  is 
ordinarily  narrow.  When  a  prospector  has  thus  staked 
out  his  claim,  it  is  recorded  by  one  of  the  miners,  who 
is  elected  by  his  fellows  in  each  gulch  for  that  purpose, 
and  this  secures  him  sufficient  title.  The  miners'  laws 
are  practically  the  entire  government  in  these  districts, 
for  the  remoteness  prevents  any  systematic  communica- 
tion being  carried  on  with  the  United  States.  All  ques- 
tions and  disputes  are  settled  by  miners'  meetings,  and 
the  question  in  dispute  is  put  to  popular  vote. 

"In  prospecting  the  elementary  method  of  panning  is 
used  to  discover  the  presence  of  gold  in  gravel,  but  after 
a  claim  is  staked  and  systematic  work  begun,  long  sluice 
boxes  are  built  of  boards,  the  miners  being  obliged  to 
fell  the  trees  themselves  and  saw  out  the  lumber  with 
whip  saws,  a  very  laborious  kind  of  work. 

"The  depth  of  gravel  in  the  bottom  of  the  gulches 


242  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

varies  from  a  foot  up  to  twenty  or  thirty  feet,  and  when 
it  is  deeper  than  the  latter  figure  it  cannot  be  worked. 
The  upper  part  of  the  gravel  is  barren,  and  the  pay- 
dirt  lies  directly  upon  the  rock  beneath,  and  is  generally 
very  thin.  To  get  at  this  pay-dirt  all  the  upper  gravel 
must  be  shoveled  ofi,  and  this  preliminary  work  often 
requires  an  entire  season,  even  in  a  very  small  claim. 
When  the  gravel  is  deeper  than  a  certain  amount — say 
ten  feet — the  task  of  removing  it  becomes  formidable. 
In  this  case  the  pay-dirt  can  sometimes  be  got  at  in  the 
winter  season  when  the  gravels  are  frozen  hard  by  sink- 
ing shafts  through  these  gravels  and  drifting  along  the 
pay-dirt. 

"The  pay-dirt  thus  removed  is  taken  to  the  surface 
and  washed  out  in  sluices  when  the  warm  weather  be- 
gins. This  underground  working  is  done  by  burning  in- 
stead of  blasting  and  picking.  A  fire  is  built  close  to 
the  frozen  gravel,  and  when  it  is  sufficiently  thawed  it 
is  shoveled  out  and  removed.  The  stripping  off  of  the 
upper  gravels,  which  has  been  mentioned,  can  be  done 
only  in  the  comparatively  short  summer  season  when  the 
surface  thaws. 

"The  ordinary  method  of  getting  into  the  Yukon  coun- 
try is  by  crossing  the  Chilkoot  Pass  from  Juneau  down 
the  Lewes  and  Yukon  rivers  to  the  gold  districts.  The 
usual  time  for  starting  is  in  April,  and  a  large  part  of 
the  journey  is  made  over  ice  which  fills  the  lakes  and 
rivers  at  this  time  of  year.  By  this  early  starting  a  large 
part  of  the  season  available  for  working  is  obtained. 
Not  every  comer  can  find  new  diggings  which  are  profit- 
able, and  many  of  them  are  glad  to  work  for  wages. 

"The  ordinary  wages  in  summer  are  $io  per  day,  but 
sixty  days  is  considered  about  the  average  for  summer 
work;  so  that  the  total  earnings  are  not  so  great  as  will 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  243 

appear  at  first  sight,  and  the  prospects  for  work  during 
the  remainder  of  the  year  are  slight.  The  journe}'  over 
the  pass  and  down  the  Yukon  is  one  of  great  difficulty 
and  hardship,  especially  as  all  supplies  have  to  be  carried 
along.  The  pass  itself  is  difficult  to  cross,  the  lakes  are 
subject  to  violent  gales,  and  there  are  a  number  of  very 
dangerous  rapids.  Once  in  the  country  the  newcomer 
finds  himself  no  more  comfortable. 

"During  the  summer  season,  when  the  days  sometimes 
are  really  hot,  there  are  swarms  of  mosquitoes  and  gnats 
which  have  not  their  equal  in  the  world,  and  which  are 
enough  alone  to  discourage  most  men.  I  have  heard 
stories,  which  I  can  readily  believe  to  be  true,  of  strong 
and  hardy  men  being  so  tormented  by  these  pests  while 
on  the  trail  through  the  swamp  to  the  Birch  creek  dig- 
gings, that  they  broke  down  and  sobbed  in  utter  dis- 
gust. The  method  of  reaching  these  and  other  diggings 
consists  partly  in  pulling  a  loaded  boat  against  a  swift 
stream,  and  often  over  rapids,  and  partly  in  trudging 
through  the  swamp  or  over  a  rough  mountain  trail  with 
a  heavy  load  on  one's  back.  In  winter  the  thermometer 
falls  so  low  that  it  cannot  be  measured  by  any  available 
means.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  it  reaches  70  degrees 
below  zero.  During  all  this  winter  season  very  little  can 
be  done,  and  as  darkness  exists  most  of  the  time  life  often 
seems  intolerable. 

"The  actual  expenses  of  getting  into  the  country  are 
considerable.  Indians  must  be  hired  to  do  a  part  or  the 
whole  of  the  transportation  of  supplies  across  the  Chil- 
koot  Pass  at  very  high  wages,  and  the  cost  of  the  neces- 
sary outfit  is  in  itself  considerable.  On  arriving  at  the 
diggings  provisions  are  often  not  obtainable  at  any  price; 
or,  if  they  are  to  be  had,  the  variety  is  slight.    The  sup- 


244  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

ply  is  always  uncertain,  depending  upon  the  lateness  of 
the  spring  and  of  the  fall. 

"Owing  to  the  difficulty  in  bringing  in  supplies,  prices 
are  very  high  at  the  river  posts,  and  much  higher  in  the 
diggings.  The  freight  alone  from  the  coast  to  the  dig- 
gings costs  as  high  as  50  cents  a  pound,  so  that  when 
one  eats  potatoes  at  $1  a  pound  and  bacon  at  85  cents 
a  pound,  other  things  in  proportion,  the  cost  of  living  is 
enormous,  and  even  employment  at  $10  per  day  for  sixty 
days  out  of  the  year  will  not  enable  a  man  to  grow  rich 
very  rapidly.  Even  employment  for  wages,  moreover, 
is  scarce,  there  being  several  applicants  for  every  job. 
Owing  to  the  high  price  of  supplies,  no  claim  that  does 
not  pay  at  least  $10  a  day  to  each  man  working  can  be 
worked  except  at  a  loss.  ]\Iany  competent  men  who 
engage  in  mining  here  and  work  faithfully  experience 
failures,  and  are  unable  to  earn  enough  to  buy  provi- 
sions. 

"In  such  a  situation  it  is  very  difficult  to  make  one's 
way  out  of  the  country,  for  the  journey  up  the  river  along 
the  usual  route  requires  upward  of  thirty  days'  hard 
work,  and  provisions  must  be  brought  for  the  trip.  The 
trip  down  the  river  and  back  to  civilization  by  steamer 
is  very  expensive,  and  of  late  years  the  number  seeking 
to  get  out  in  that  way  exceeded  the  carrying  capacity  of 
the  few  steamers.  Last  year  fully  150  men  who  w^ished 
and  intended  to  leave  the  country  by  steamer  w'ere  un- 
able to  do  so,  and  are  still  there. 

"Under  the  conditions  which  now  exist  there  are  quite 
enough  in  the  Yukon  district  already,  and  the  object  of 
this  article  is  to  discourage  people  from  rushing  there 
without  due  consideration.  Probably  ninety-nine  out  of 
every  hundred  men  are  unfitted  by  nature  for  such  a  life 
as  Yukon  mining  necessitates,  and  had  much  better  never 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  245 

make  the  attempt.  The  hundredth  man  must  be  a  miner 
and  frontiersman  by  nature,  strong  and  patient,  a  hard 
worker,  and  a  lover  of  sechided  hfe.  Even  such  a  man 
will  very  likely  fail  on  account  of  the  large  element  of 
chance,  and  the  most  successful  miner  obtains  only  a  few 
thousand  dollars  in  profit  after  a  number  of  years'  patient 
work. 

"Any  great  increase  in  the  number  of  men  going  into 
the  Yukon  district  would  be  disastrous,  on  account  of  the 
strict  limits  of  the  food  supply  and  facilities  for  trans- 
portation. The  result  would  be  famine,  disorder,  and 
failure.  Several  years  ago  this  actually  happened  when 
all  the  Forty-Mile  miners  were  without  food  and  were 
obliged  to  travel  down  the  Yukon  over  the  ice  to  St. 
Michael  in  the  dead  of  winter,  a  terrible  journey  of  nearly 
2,000  miles.  At  that  time  there  were  only  a  few  men 
in  the  country,  but  if  the  number  had  been  very  much 
larger,  even  this  resource  would  have  been  impossible. 

"My  general  advice  to  the  average  man  intending  to 
go  to  the  Yukon  gold  district  is — to  stay  out.  Many 
men  go  there  every  year  and  suffer  hardships,  failure,  loss 
of  capital  and  sometimes  of  health.  If  anyone  under- 
takes the  trip  he  should  take  with  him  enough  supplies 
to  last  as  long  as  he  intends  to  stay — one  year,  two  years, 
or  whatever  amount.  He  should  have  money  enough  to 
last  him  into  the  country  and  out  again,  if  necessary,  and 
should  start  early  enough  in  the  season  to  enable  him  to 
return  up  the  river  if  he  intends  to  come  out  the  same 
year,  for  the  facilities  for  transportation  by  steamer  are 
likely  to  be  entirely  inadequate." 

NOTE. — Since  Prof.  Spurr  sounded  this  note  of  warn- 
ing a  small  army  of  Klondikers  has  started  for  the  gold 
fields.  Reports  from  Daw^son  City  indicate  that  the 
labor  market  is  glutted  by  miners  who  left  other  diggings 


246  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

for  the  Klondike,  and  that  day  wages  dropped  from  $io 
and  $15  to  $2  and  $3. 

In  speaking  of  the  mining  conditions  of  Alaska,  Mr. 
Spurr  said: 

"We  examined  all  of  the  known  placer  deposits  and  the 
origin  of  the  gold  in  them  was  traced  to  the  veins  of 
quartz  along  the  head  waters  of  the  various  streams  en- 
tering the  Yukon.  Sufficient  data  were  secured  to  estab- 
lish the  presence  of  a  gold  belt  300  miles  in  length  in 
Alaska,  which  enters  the  territory  near  the  mouth  of 
Forty  Mile  creek  and  extends  westward  across  the  Yukon 
valley  at  the  lower  ramparts.  Its  further  extent  is  un- 
known. 

"It  is  the  opinion  of  the  geologist  in  charge  of  the  ex- 
pedition that  it  is  entirely  practicable  to  prosecute  quartz 
mining  throughout  the  year  in  this  region.  He  also  dis- 
covered along  the  river  large  areas  or  rocks  containing 
hard  bitumious  coal. 

"Running  in  a  direction  a  little  west  of  northwest 
through  the  territory  examined  is  a  broad,  continuous 
belt  of  highly  altered  rocks.  To  the  east  this  belt  is  known 
to  be  continuous  for  100  miles  or  more  in  British  terri- 
tory. The  rocks  constituting  this  belt  are  mostly  crys- 
talline schists,  associated  with  marbles  and  sheared 
quartzites,  indicating  a  sedimentary  origin  for  a  large 
part  of  the  series.  These  altered  sedimentary  rocks  have 
been  shattered  by  volcanic  action,  and  they  are  pierced 
by  many  dikes  of  eruptive  rocks. 

"In  the  process  of  mountain  building  the  sedimentary 
rocks  have  been  subjected  to  such  pressure  and  to  such 
alteration  from  attendant  forces  that  they  have  been 
squeezed  into  the  condition  of  schist,  and  often  partly  or 
wholly  crystallized,  so  that  their  original  character  has  in 
some  cases  entirely  disappeared.    In  summarizing,  it  may 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  247 

be  said  that  the  rocks  of  the  gold  belt  of  Alaska  consist 
largely  of  sedimentary  beds  older  than  the  carboniferous 
period,  that  these  beds  have  undergone  extensive  altera- 
tion, and  have  been  elevated  into  mountain  ranges  and 
cut  through  by  a  variety  of  igneous  rocks, 

"Throughout  these  altered  rocks  there  are  found  veins 
of  quartz  often  carrying  pyrite  and  gold.  It  appears  that 
these  quartz  veins  were  formed  during  the  disturbance 
attending  the  uplift  and  alteration  of  the  beds.  IMany  of 
the  veins  have  been  cut,  sheared  and  torn  into  fragments 
by  the  force  that  has  transformed  the  sedimentary  rocks 
into  crystalHne  schist,  but  there  are  others,  containing 
gold,  silver  and  copper,  that  have  not  been  very  much 
disturbed  or  broken. 

"These  more  continuous  ore-bearing  zones  have  not 
the  character  of  ordinary  quartz  veins,  although  they  con- 
tain much  silica.  Instead  of  the  usual  white  quartz  veins, 
the  ore  occurs  in  a  sheared  and  altered  zone  of  rock,  and 
gradually  runs  out  on  both  sides.  So  far  as  yet  known, 
these  continuous  zones  of  ore  are  of  relatively  low  grade. 
Concerning  the  veins  of  wdiite  quartz  first  mentioned,  it 
is  certain  that  most  of  them  wdiich  contain  gold  carry  it 
only  in  small  quantity,  and  yet  some  few  are  known  to 
be  very  rich  in  places,  and  it  is  extremely  probable  that 
there  are  many  in  wdiich  the  whole  of  the  ore  is  of  com- 
paratively high  grade. 

"The  general  character  of  the  rocks  and  of  the  ore  de- 
posits is  extremely  like  that  of  the  gold-bearing  forma- 
tions along  the  southern  coast  of  Alaska,  in  which  the 
Treadwell  and  other  mines  are  situated,  and  it  is  probable 
that  the  richness  of  the  Yukon  rocks  is  approximately 
equal  to  that  of  the  coast  belt.  It  may  be  added  that  the 
resources  of  the  coast  belt  have  been  only  partially  ex- 
plored. 


248  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

"Since  the  formation  of  the  veins  and  other  deposits  of 
the  rocks  of  the  gold  belt  an  enormous  length  of  time  has 
elapsed.  During  that  time  the  forces  of  erosion  have 
stripped  off  the  overlying  rocks  and  exposed  the  metal- 
liferous veins  at  the  surface  for  long  periods,  and  the  rocks 
of  the  gold  belt,  with  the  veins  which  they  include,  have 
crumbled  and  been  carried  away  by  the  streams,  to  be 
deposited  in  widely  different  places  as  gravels,  or  sands, 
or  mud.  In  Alaska  the  streams  have  been  carrying 
away  the  gold  from  the  metalliferous  belt  for  a  very  long 
period,  so  that  particles  of  the  precious  metal  are  found 
in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  territory. 

"It  is  only  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  gold-bearing 
belt,  however,  that  the  particles  of  gold  are  large  and 
plentiful  enough  to  repay  working  under  present  condi- 
tions. Where  a  stream  heads  in  the  gold  belt  the  richest 
diggings  are  likely  to  be  near  its  extreme  upper  part.  In 
this  upper  part  the  current  is  so  swift  that  the  lighter 
material  and  the  finer  gold  are  carried  away,  leaving  in 
many  places  a  rich  deposit  of  coarse  gold  overlaid  by 
coarse  gravel,  the  pebbles  being  so  large  as  to  hinder 
rapid  transportation  by  water. 

"It  is  under  such  conditions  that  the  diggings  which 
are  now  being  worked  are  found,  v/ith  some  unimportant 
exceptions.  The  rich  gulches  of  the  Forty  Mile  district 
and  of  the  Birch  creek  district,  as  well  as  other  fields  of 
less  importance,  all  head  in  the  gold-bearing  formation. 

"A  short  distance  below  the  heads  of  these  gulches  the 
stream  valley  broadens  and  the  gravels  contain  finer  gold, 
more  widely  distributed.  Along  certain  parts  of  the 
stream  this  finer  gold  is  concentrated  by  favorable  cur- 
rents, and  is  often  profitably  washed,  this  kind  of  deposit 
coming  under  the  head  of  'bar  diggings.'  The  gold  in 
these  more  extensive  gravels  is  often  present  in  sufficient 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  251 

quantity  to  encourage  the  hope  of  successful  extraction 
at  some  future  time,  when  the  work  can  be  clone  more 
cheaply  and  with  suitable  machinery.  The  extent  of  these 
gravels,  which  are  of  possible  value,  is  very  great. 

'Tt  may  be  stated,  therefore,  as  a  general  rule,  that  the 
profitable  gravels  are  found  in  the  vicinity  of  the  gold- 
bearing  rock.  The  gold-bearing  belt  forms  a  range  of 
low  mountains,  and  on  the  flanks  of  these  mountains,  to 
the  northeast  and  to  the  southwest,  lie  various  younger 
rocks  which  range  in  age  from  carboniferous  to  very  re- 
cent tertiary,  and  are  made  up  mostly  of  conglomerates, 
sandstones  and  shales,  with  some  volcanic  material. 
These  rocks  were  formed  subsequent  to  the  ore  deposi- 
tion, and  therefore  do  not  contain  metalliferous  veins. 

"They  have  been  partly  derived,  however,  from  de- 
tritus worn  from  the  gold-bearing  belt  during  the  long 
period  that  it  has  been  exposed  to  erosion,  and  some  of 
them  contain  gold  derived  from  the  more  ancient  rocks 
and  concentrated  in  the  same  way  as  is  the  gold  in  the 
present  river  gravels.  In  one  or  two  places  it  is  certain 
that  these  conglomerates  are  really  fossil  placers,  and  this 
source  of  supply  may  eventually  turn  out  to  be  very  im- 
portant." 

The  report  on  the  Yukon  gold  region  by  Mr.  Spurr, 
giving  new  facts  and  figures  about  the  interior  of  the  ter- 
ritory, was  made  public  recently.  It  is  a  comprehensive 
document,  and  reviews  in  detail  the  work  in  the  various 
districts.  It  says  as  to  the  Forty  Mile  gold  district,  that 
in  the  latter  part  of  1887  Franklin  gulch  was  struck,  and 
the  first  year  the  creek  is  estimated  to  have  produced 
$4,000.  Ever  since  it  has  been  a  constant  payer.  The 
character  of  the  gold  there  is  nuggety,  masses  worth  $5 
being  common.  The  yield  the  first  year  after  the  dis- 
covery of  Forty  ]\Iile  has  been  variously  estimated  at 
13 


252  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

from  $75,000  to  $150,000,  but  $60,000  probably  covers 
the  production. 

The  discovery  of  Davis  creek  and  a  stampede  from 
FrankHn  gulch  followed  in  the  spring  of  1888.  In  1891 
gold  mining  in  the  interior  as  well  as  on  the  coast,  at 
Silver  Bow  basin  and  Treadwell,  received  a  great  impetus. 
The  chief  occurrence  of  1892  was  the  discovery  of  Miller 
creek.  In  the  spring  of  1893  many  new  claims  were 
staked,  and  it  is  estimated  that  80  men  took  out  $100,000. 
Since  then  Miller  creek  has  been  the  heaviest  producer  of 
the  Forty  Mile  district,  and,  until  recently,  of  the  wdiole 
Yukon.  Its  entire  length  lies  in  British  possessions.  The 
output  for  1893  as  given  by  the  mint  director  for  the 
Alaskan  creeks,  all  but  IMiller  creek  being  in  American 
possessions,  was  $198,000,  with  a  mining  population  of 
196. 

The  total  amount  produced  by  the  Yukon  placers  in 
1894  was  double  that  of  the  previous  year,  and  was  di- 
vided between  the  two  districts.  In  1895  the  output  had 
doubled  again. 

Forty  Mile  district  in  the  summer  of  1896  is  described 
in  the  report  as  looking  as  if  it  had  seen  its  best  days,  and 
unless  several  new  creeks  are  discovered  it  will  lose  its  old 
position. 

The  Birch  creek  district  was  in  a  flourishing  condition 
last  summer  (1896).  ]\Iost  of  the  gulches  were  then  run- 
ning, miners  were  working  on  double  shifts,  night  and 
day,  and  many  large  profits  were  reported.  On  Mastodon 
creek,  the  best  producer,  over  300  miners  were  at  work, 
many  expecting  to  winter  in  the  gulch. 

As  to  hydraulic  mining,  the  report  says:  "Some  min- 
ers have  planned  to  work  this  and  other  good  ground 
supposed  to  exist  under  the  deep  covering  of  moss  and 
gravel  in  the  wide  valley  of  the  Mammoth  and  Crooked 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  253 

creeks  by  the  hydraulic  process,  the  water  to  be  obtained 
by  tapping  Miller  and  Mastodon  creeks  near  the  head.  It 
will  be  several  years  before  the  scheme  can  be  operated, 
because  both  of  the  present  gulches  are  paying  well,  and 
will  continue  to  do  so  at  least  five  years." 

The  Klondike  placer  miners  are  only  gathering  the 
dust  washed  ofi  nature's  great  gold  reserve  in  the  Alaskan 
mountains.  This  dust  is  found  in  the  gravel  of  the  little 
streams.  It  comes  from  a  formation  called  the  conglom- 
erate, which  is  incomparably  richer  in  nuggets  and  par- 
ticles of  gold  than  the  gravel.  When  the  miners  find  it 
no  longer  profitable  to  wash  out  the  gravel,  they  can  at- 
tack the  conglomerate,  where  they  will  be  able  to  accom- 
plish something  by  hand  labor.  Finally,  there  is  the 
original  source  of  gold — the  veins  in  the  hills.  These 
must  be  of  enormous  value.  They  must  lie  untouched 
until  the  proper  machinery  for  obtaining  the  gold  is 
erected. 

A  clear,  scientific  and  authoritative  explanation  of  the 
geological  conditions  of  the  Klondike  and  neighboring 
gold-bearing  rocks  was  furnished  by  Professor  S.  F.  Em- 
mons, of  the  United  States  geological  survey,  to  the  New 
York  Herald.     Professor  Emmons  said: 

"The  real  mass  of  golden  wealth  in  Alaska  remains  as 
yet  untouched.  It  lies  in  the  virgin  rocks,  from  which  the 
particles  found  in  the  river  gravels  now  being  washed 
by  the  Klondike  miners  have  been  torn  by  the  erosion  of 
streams.  These  particles,  being  heavy,  have  been  de- 
posited by  the  streams  which  carried  the  lighter  matter 
onward  to  the  ocean,  thus  forming  by  gradual  accumu- 
lation, a  sort  of  auriferous  concentrate.  Many  of  the  bits, 
especially  in  certain  localities,  are  big  enough  to  be  called 
nuggets. 

"In  spots  the  gravels  are  so  rich  that,  as  we  have  all 


254  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

heard,  many  ounces  of  the  yellow  metal  are  obtained 
from  the  washing  of  a  single  panful.  That  is  what  is  mak- 
ing the  people  so  wild — the  prospect  of  picking  money 
out  of  the  dirt  by  the  handful  literally. 

"But  all  this  is  merely  the  skimming  of  grease  from 
the  pot;  the  soup  remains,  the  precious  rich  soup  it  is. 
The  bulk  of  the  wealth  is  in  the  rocks  of  the  hills,  waiting 
only  for  proper  machinery  to  take  it  out.  For  you  must 
remember  that  the  gold  was  originally  stored  in  veins 
of  the  rocks,  which  are  of  an  exceedingly  ancient  forma- 
tion. Nobody  can  say  how  many  millions  of  years  ago  the 
metal  was  put  there^  but  it  must  have  been  an  enormously 
long  time  back. 

"The  streams  wore  away  the  rocks,  carrying  gold  with 
them,  and  this  process  continued  for  ages,  making  im- 
mense deposits  of  rich,  gold-bearing  gravels.  Eventually 
these  deposits  were  themselves  transformed  into  rock — 
a  sort  of  conglomerate  in  which  pebbles  small  and  big  are 
mixed  with  what  was  once  sand.  To-day  the  strata  com- 
posed of  this  conglomerate  are  of  immense  extent  and 
unknown  thickness.  The  formation  closely  resembles 
that  of  the  auriferous  'banket'  or  pudding  stone  of  the 
South  African  gold  fields;  but  the  South  African  pudding 
stone  was  in  far  remote  antiquity  a  sea  beach,  whereas 
the  Alaskan  formation  is  a  deposit  made  by  steams,  as 
I  have  said. 

"In  a  later  epoch  the  stream  continued  to  gnaw  away 
at  the  hills,  bringing  down  more  gold  and  leaving  it  be- 
hind in  the  gravels  of  their  bottoms.  It  is  these  compara- 
tively modern  rivers  which  are  responsible  for  the  pay 
dirt  of  the  Klondike  district  and  of  all  that  region.  Nat- 
urally, because  it  was  easily  got  at  and  worked,  the  min- 
ers have  struck  this  surface  alluvium  first.  The  streams 
at  various  times  have  followed  different  courses,  and  it  is 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  255 

in  the  gravels  of  the  dry  and  disused  channels  that  the 
gold  miners  dig  with  such  fabulous  profit. 

"You  will  observe  from  what  I  have  said  that  the  gold 
of  that  region  exists  under  three  widely  different  condi- 
tions— in  the  gravels,  in  the  conglomerate  or  pudding 
stone  and  in  the  ancient  rocks  of  the  hills.  When  the 
modern  stream  deposits,  now  being  worked,  are  used  up, 
the  miner  can  tackle  the  conglomerate,  which  represents 
the  gravels  of  ages  ago.  Finally,  when  they  are  provided 
with  the  requisite  machinery,  they  will  be  in  a  position  to 
attack  the  masses  of  yellow  wealth  that  are  stored  in  the 
veins  of  the  mountains.  At  present  we  can  hardly  con- 
sider that  the  first  bite  has  been  taken  of  the  golden  feast 
which  Alaska  oflfers  to  hungry  man." 

For  many  years  Indians  have  brought  out  of  the  Cop- 
per river  district  in  Alaska  furs,  copper  and  gold.  The 
Copper  Indians  are  a  ferocious  tribe,  much  resembling 
the  Sioux  in  stature,  and  during  the  last  few  years  have 
become  well  equipped  with  guns  and  ammunition. 
Knowing  the  value  of  their  rich  stakes,  and  that  the 
ingress  of  white  men  would  mean  their  retirement,  the 
Indians  have  steadfastly  refused  to  permit  a  single  white 
man  to  explore  their  country.  Every  man  making  the 
attempt  has  been  told  to  keep  out,  and  when  he  persisted 
has  been  killed. 

The  Copper  river  tribe  numbers  nearly  i,ooo,  and  as 
they  have  been  well  able  to  carry  out  their  threats,  no 
attempt  to  molest  them  has  been  made  in  recent  years. 
Now,  however,  it  is  proposed  to  teach  these  natives  that 
white  men  must  eventually  be  allowed  to  prospect  and 
take  out  the  mineral  riches  of  their  domain. 

One  hundred  men,  thoroughly  armed,  will  go  to  Cook 
inlet  from  Port  Townsend.  They  will  be  led  thence  into 
the  Copper  river  section  by  Judge  Joseph  Kuhn,  who  has 


256  THE   CHICAGO  RECORD'S 

been  collecting  data  regarding  Copper  river  for  years 
and  was  the  originator  of  the  project.  Capitalists,  it 
is  said,  are  advancing  part  of  the  money  required,  but  to 
make  the  success  more  certain  the  expedition  is  being 
organized  on  a  co-operative  basis,  so  each  man  will  have 
a  direct  interest.  Each  man  enlisting  is  required  to  put 
up  several  hundred  dollars,  which  goes  to  a  common 
fund  with  which  to  buy  a  schooner,  arms  and  supplies 
for  two  years.  The  Indians  will  not  be  molested  unless 
they  attack  the  exploring  party.  Traditions  of  the  last 
sixty  years  have  ascribed  great  mineral  wealth  to  the 
Copper  river  country.  At  Sitka  it  is  said  that  in  1831 
a  Russian  trader  invaded  that  section  with  eight  men. 
They  were  killed  when  within  a  two  days'  march  to  the 
seacoast. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  257 

CHAPTER  XV. 
MAIL  SERVICE  IN  THE  KLONDIKE. 

AILY  mail  deliveries  are  something  that  can 
scarcely  be  expected  by  the  Klondikers. 
Arrangements,  however,  have  been  made 
to  carry  the  mail  between  "home"  and  the 
gold  diggings  in  the  Yukon  district.  A 
mail  service  has  been  established  be- 
tween Juneau  and  Circle  City,  and  doubt- 
less this  soon  will  be  extended  to  the  Klondike  district. 
As  the  mails  pass  backwards  and  forwards  across  the 
boundary  line,  postage  paid  in  the  United  States  takes 
mail  across  the  boundary  line,  and  vice  versa. 

Postmaster  Charles  U.  Gordon  of  Chicago,  in  response 
to  a  request  from  the  CHICAGO  RECORD  for  infor- 
mation regarding  the  sending  of  letters  to  the  Klondike 
region,  replied: 

"Letters  cannot  be  sent  by  United  States  mail  to  Daw- 
son City,  Forty  Mile  or  other  towns  in  British  territory. 
Mail  matter  for  Dawson  City,  Northwest  territory,  not 
being  a  known  postofhce,  should  be  addressed  Via'  some 
United  States  postofhce,  viz:  Dyea,  Alaska;  Unalaska, 
or  Circle  City,  Alaska.  Sent  to  one  of  these  Alaskan 
postofhces,  it  goes  to  Circle  City  by  way  of  Dyea,  over 
the  overland  route;  by  way  of  Unalaska  by  the  Yukon 
route. 

"A  mail  steamer  leaves  Seattle  every  five  days  for 
Juneau,  120  miles  from  Dyea,  and  every  fourteen  days 
from  Sitka  for  Unalaska.     A  Canadian  Pacific  steamer 


258  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

will  leave  Victoria  for  Dyea,  by  way  of  Juneau,  every 
few  weeks  during  the  fall.  The  route  overland  by  way 
of  Edmonton,  Northwest  territory,  is  not  feasible,  as  yet, 
although  there  appears  to  be  some  travel  coming  this 
way." 

Five  carriers  have  been  appointed  for  the  Juneau- 
Circle  City  route,  and  one  will  leave  each  end  of  the  mail 
route  on  or  about  the  first  of  each  month.  The  carriers 
are  P.  C.  Richardson,  F.  W.  Hoyt,  J.  W.  Demars,  G. 
P.  Sproul  and  John  Brauer.  This  mail  service  is  for 
United  States  mail  addressed  to  Circle  City.  Mail  of 
Dawson,  Forty-Mile  and  Fort  Cudahy  will  not  be  car- 
ried in  this  mail,  as  these  points  are  in  Canadian  territory. 
Communication  with  these  points  is  irregular  and  diffi- 
cult, but  arrangements  have  been  made  to  forward  mail 
from  Circle  City  by  the  Arctic  express  company. 

The  schedule  for  carriers  between  Juneau  and  Circle 
City  is  as  follows: 

Date.  Juneau.  Circle  City. 

August Demars  Hoyt 

September Sproul  Brauer 

October Hoyt  Demars 

November Brauer  Sproul 

December Demars  Hoyt 

January Sproul  Brauer 

February Hoyt  Demars 

March Brauer  Sproul 

April Demars  Hoyt 

May Sproul  Brauer 

June Hoyt  Demars 

Since  July  i,  contracts  for  mail  over  what  is  known  as 
"the  overland  route"  from  Juneau  to  Circle  City  have 
been  made  by  the  postoffice  department.  The  round  trip 
over  the  Chilkoot  pass  and  by  way  of  the  chain  of  lakes 


THE   FIRST   PAN. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  261 

and  the  Lewes  river  takes  about  a  month,  the  distance 
being  about  900  miles.  The  cost  is  about  $600  for  the 
round  trip.  The  Chilkoot  pass  is  crossed  with  the  mail 
by  means  of  Indian  carriers.  On  the  previous  trips  the 
carriers,  after  finishing  the  pass,  built  their  boats, 
but  they  now  have  their  own  to  pass  the  lakes  and  the 
Lewes  river. 

In  the  winter  transportation  is  carried  on  by  means 
of  dog  sleds,  and  it  is  hoped  that  under  the  present  con- 
tracts there  will  be  no  stoppage,  no  matter  how  low  the 
temperature  may  go.  The  contractor  has  reported  that 
he  was  sending  a  boat,  in  sections,  by  way  of  St.  Michael, 
up  the  Yukon  river,  to  be  used  on  the  waterway  of  the 
route,  and  it  is  thought  much  time  will  be  saved  by  this, 
as  in  former  times  it  was  necessary  for  the  carriers  to 
stop  and  build  boats  or  rafts  to  pass  the  lakes. 

In  addition  to  this  for  the  summer  season  contracts 
have  been  made  with  two  steamboat  companies  for  two 
trips  from  Seattle  to  St.  Michael,  and  three  from  there 
to  Seattle.  When  the  steamers  reach  St.  Michael,  the 
mail  will  be  transferred  from  the  steamers  to  the  flat- 
bottomed  boats  running  up  the  Yukon  as  far  as  Circle 
City.     It  is  believed  the  boats  now  run  further  up. 

The  contracts  for  the  overland  route  call  for  only  first- 
class  matter,  whereas  the  steamers  in  the  summer  season 
carry  everything  up  to  five  tons  a  trip. 

Some  extracts  from  the  olBcial  report  of  the  second 
assistant  postmaster  general  for  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  I,  1896,  will  prove  of  interest.  Under  date  of  Sep- 
tember 23,  1896,  Contractor  Beddoe  wrote  to  the  depart- 
ment concerning  the  trip  to  Circle  City,  the  establishment 
of  that  postoffice  having  been  authorized  March  19, 
1896. 


262  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

He  says:  "I  have  just  returned  from  my  first  round 
trip  through  to  Circle  City  with  the  United  States  mail, 
under  contract  route  No.  78103,  and  in  accordance  with 
your  instructions,  corroborating-  those  received  through 
the  superintendent  of  the  Pacific  coast,  at  Seattle,  I  de- 
livered the  return  mail  from  Circle  City  to  the  postmaster 
at  Seattle  and  accompanied  to  Juneau  such  mail  as  re- 
mained for  that  point. 

"I  have  already  delivered  (or  have  en  route)  the  mail 
for  June,  July,  August  and  September.  It  will  be  im- 
possible for  any  other  mail  to  leave  here  until  spring, 
outside  of  the  winter  contract. 

"If  you  were  familiar  with  the  conditions  which  ob- 
tain in  the  Yukon  you  would  be  in  a  better  position  to 
regulate  the  dates  of  departure  and  arrival  for  said  ser- 
vice. For  instance,  I  left  this  point  (Juneau)  on  June  10 
for  Dyea;  for  sixteen  hours  it  was  impossible  to  land 
owing  to  storms,  and  as  the  landing  is  made  in  small 
boats,  the  conditions  must  be  favorable.  I  took  with  me 
sufficient  lumber  to  build  two  boats;  the  ones  I  had 
already  built  could  not  be  taken  over  the  summit  in  con- 
sequence of  excessive  snow  storms.  Upon  my  arrival 
at  the  base  of  the  summit  the  Indian  packers  refused  to 
go  over  with  the  lumber.  I  was  compelled  to  abandon 
it  there,  having  paid  $67.50  for  packing  it. 

"The  packing  of  supplies,  etc.,  cost  $320  additional. 
However,  I  pushed  on  and  upon  arriving  at  Lake  Linde- 
man,  a  distance  of  thirty  miles,  I  built  a  raft,  there  being 
no  lumber  in  that  locality,  and  upon  this  raft  we  jour- 
neyed to  Lake  Bennett,  where  we  found  sufficient  lumber 
to  build  a  boat.  A  start  was  made  in  five  days  after  ar- 
rival, although  the  lumber  had  to  be  cut  from  the  trees, 
and  from  there  on  we  traveled  day  and  night  until  our 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  litiS 

destination,  Circle  City,  was  reached  and  the  mails  de- 
livered in  good  order. 

"The  question  now  was  to  get  the  return  mail  to  Ju- 
neau the  quickest  moment.  It  was  impossible  to  start 
up  the  river  in  consequence  of  the  rapid  water,  the  cur- 
rent averaging  eight  miles  an  hour  for  500  miles.  If  I 
remained  in  Circle  City  until  July  30  it  would  probably 
take  forty-five  days  to  pole  the  boat  up  the  river.  I  there- 
fore decided  to  go  down  to  St.  Michael  and  come  out 
through  Bering  sea.  I  was  fortunate  in  getting  there 
in  time  for  the  steamship  Portland,  which  sailed  from 
that  point  to  Seattle,  via  Unalaska — 3,500  miles.  At 
Seattle  I  took  the  Alki  and  reached  here  in  due  course, 
having  traveled  6,500  miles  in  addition  to  the  regular 
trip,  and  saving  thereby  over  a  month  of  time  in  the  de- 
livery of  the  return  mail;  and  I  owe  it  to  myself  to  say 
that  I  was  the  last  trip  man  into  the  Yukon  and  the  first 
one  out  this  season,  which  is  evidence  that  no  unnecessary 
delay  occurred. 

"This  Yukon  trip  is  a  terrible  one,  the  current  of  the 
river  even  attaining  ten  miles  an  hour.  Miles  canyon  is  a 
veritable  death  trap  into  which  one  is  likely  to  be  drawn 
without  notice,  and  the  White  Horse  rapids,  known  as 
the  miners'  grave,  to  say  nothing  of  the  Five  Fingers  and 
Rink  rapids,  both  of  which  are  very  dangerous.  All  of 
these  dangers  are  aggravated  by  reason  of  the  defective 
maps  and  reports  of  the  country. 

"It  is  my  intention  to  submit  to  the  department  a  map 
with  many  corrections,  although  in  the  absence  of  a 
proper  survey  it  will  necessarily  be  only  an  approximate 
reflection  of  the  river's  course.  You  are  probably  not 
aware  that  for  a  distance  of  150  miles,  commencing  at 
Circle  City,  and  going  north,  the  river  is  fifty  miles  be- 


264  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

tween  banks,  and  contains  thousands  of  islands,  very  few 
of  which  appear  on  any  map. 

"It  is  impossible  to  perform  this  mail  contract  without 
having  at  least  three  parties  fully  equipped,  the  distance 
being  so  great  and  it  being  out  of  the  question  for  the 
first  party  to  return  in  time  to  depart  with  the  succeed- 
ing mail,  and  the  expense  of  each  will  be  about  the  same. 
I  shall  have  made  four  round  trips  by  the  end  of  this 
month.  The  last  mail  in  should  arrive  at  Circle  City  in 
one  week  from  now.  The  return  mails  I  am  looking  for 
daily.  At  the  end  of  this  month  the  north  end  of  the 
Yukon  river  will  freeze  and  the  ice  will  gradually  form 
to  the  south,  and  the  same,  as  a  waterway,  will  become 
impassable  and  rem.ain  so  until  midwinter," 

The  Western  Union  telegraph  company  is  considering 
the  advisability  of  stringing  a  wire  from  Juneau  to  Daw- 
son City.  A  San  Francisco  company  has  been  formed 
for  the  purpose  of  connecting  Juneau  and  Dawson  City 
with  a  telegraph  and  telephone  wire.  The  line,  accord- 
ing to  the  plan,  is  to  be  constructed  on  the  same  plan 
as  the  ordinary  military  line  used  by  armies  in  the  field. 
The  wire  will  be  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  and  covered 
with  a  certain  kind  of  insulation  which  it  is  said  has 
proved  thoroughly  able  to  withstand  the  rigorous  cli- 
matic conditions  prevailing  in  Alaska.  The  wire  is  to 
wind  upon  large  reels,  and  these  reels  are  to  be  placed 
on  dog  sleds  and  dragged  over  the  ice  and  snow.  It  is 
proposed  simply  to  pay  out  the  loose  wire  and  let  it  lie 
on  the  ground,  with  the  expectation  of  running  the  line 
through  from  terminal  to  terminal  in  six  weeks. 

The  route  by  way  of  Chilkoot  and  the  Lewes  and  Yu- 
kon as  far  as  the  Pelly  river  has  been  thoroughly  ex- 
plored by  the  Western  Union  telegraph  company.    Mike 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  265 

LeBarge,  after  whom  Lake  LeBarge  was  named,  was  en- 
gaged by  the  company  to  explore  the  river  and  adjacent 
country  for  the  purpose  of  connecting  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica by  telegraph  through  British  Columbia  and  Alaska 
and  across  Bering  strait  to  Asia,  and  thence  to  Europe. 
This  exploration  took  place  in  1867,  but  the  successful 
laying  of  the  Atlantic  cable  in  1866  put  a  stop  to  this 
project. 


266  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
LIFE  IN  DAWSON  CITY. 

ACCORDING  to   men   who   have  re- 
turned from  the  Klondike    country, 


\\|«1SS5=>--nJ[^  \  the  vahies  attached  to  flour,  meats, 
''  -  '  '  "^  eggs,  sugar,  etc.,  by  Dawson  City 
traders  are  not  so  "steep"  as  some  re- 
ports have  indicated.  Hundreds  of 
stories  about  high  prices  in  Dawson 
City  have  gone  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  country  since  the  Klondike 
fever  broke  out,  and  Joseph  Ladue,  the  founder  of  Daw- 
son City,  and  the  owner  of  the  townsite,  takes  exceptions 
to  what  he  calls  "exaggerations,"  He  says  that  prices  in 
Dawson  City,  everything  considered,  are  reasonable. 
Following  is  a  Dawson  City  price  list: 

Flour,  per  lOO  lbs $  12  00 

Sugar,  brown,  per  pound 20 

Sugar,  granulated,  per  pound 25 

Rice,  per  pound 20 

Oatmeal,   per   pound 25 

Bacon,  per  pound i  50 

Condensed  milk,  per  can 60 

Butter,  per  pound i  50 

Eggs,  per  dozen 5  00 

Beans,  per  pound 12^ 

Salt,  per  pound 15 

Dried  fruit,  per  pound,  25  to 30 

Apricots  (dried)  per  pound 35 

Cigars,  single 50 

Cigars,  wholesale,  per  1,000,  $95  to 100  00 

Tobacco,  chewing  and  smoking,  per  pound.  .  i  50 

Tobacco,  plug  cut,  per  pound 2  00 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  2(57 

Blankets,  good,  per  pair,  from  $i6  to 30  oo 

Hudson  Bay  blankets 30  00 

Linen  shirt 5  00 

Underwear,  per  suit 10  00 

Canvas  overalls   2  50 

Boots,  from  $10  to 12  00 

Stogie  shoes,  from  $5  to 7  50 

Clothes,  suit  ready  made,  from  $30  to 50  00 

Fur  overcoats,  from  $25  to 100  00 

Dogs  for  sleds,  from  $100  to 300  00 

Home-made  bread,  per  loaf 50 

Lumber,  per  1,000  feet,  from  $100  to 200  00 

Wages,  per  day,  $5  to 6  00 

Meals  in  restaurant,  each i  50 

A  dressmaker,  who  was  in  Circle  City  when  the  "strike" 
on  the  Klondike  was  made,  went  to  Dawson  City,  and  in 
the  first  three  days  cleared  $90  wath  her  needle.  Mrs. 
Adams,  the  dressmaker,  said  she  was  the  first  woman  in 
the  diggings  that  could  fit  a  dress,  and  while  there  were 
no  "bones"  or  "waist  binding  or  canvas"  or  other  articles 
about  which  women  know  everything  and  which  go  into 
a  dress,  Mrs.  Adams  said  prices  are  kept  up,  ranging 
about  as  follows:  Five  to  ten  dollars  for  a  plain  Mother 
Hubbard,  $6  to  $12  for  an  empress,  $8  for  a  plain  wool 
skirt,  $10  to  an  "ounce"  for  a  waist.  These  prices  were 
simply  for  making  the  goods  up,  and  Mrs.  Adams  said 
she  and  her  partner  had  more  work  than  they  could  do. 

Dawson  City  is  located  on  the  bank  of  the  Klondike 
where  the  latter  stream  empties  into  the  Yukon  river.  The 
town  site  of  160  acres  is  owned  by  Joe  Ladue,  and  Daw- 
son City  is  laid  out  in  a  square,  and  divided  into  city  lots 
after  the  most  improved  manner  of  the  real  estate  dealer 
who  plats  new  subdivisions.  The  population  is  unknown. 
Good  guessers  put  the  number  of  inhabitants  of  this 
mushroom  town  anywhere  from  3,000  to  15,000.  Some- 
time next  spring  it  will  be  known  just  what  the  winter 


268  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

population  of  Dawson  City  has  been  during  the  winter. 
The  city  was  born  in  August,  1896,  a  few  days  after  the 
Klondike  strike  was  made.  Many  people  are  under  the 
impression  that  Dawson  City  is  in  the  very  center  of  the 
rich  placer  deposits  of  the  Klondike  district,  when  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  gold  bearing  creeks  are  from  12  to 
25  miles  from  Dawson  City. 

Dawson  City  is  a  Canadian  town,  although  its  founder 
and  most  of  its  inhabitants  are  qualified  voters  in  the 
United  States  when  they  are  at  home.  Dawson  City  is  not 
only  a  mushroom  town,  but,  to  use  another  simile  bor- 
rowed from  the  vegetable  kingdom,  it  is  a  "sucker"  town. 
When  it  sprung  up  Circle  City,  Forty  Mile,  Fort  Cudahy, 
and  other  mining  towns  north  of  it  were  depopulated  so 
rapidly  that  no  one  save  the  agents  of  the  transportation 
and  trading  companies  and  the  Hudson's  Bay  company 
were  left. 

Every  man,  woman,  child  and  dog  scurried  to  Dawson 
City  as  fast  as  possible.  Before  the  establishment  of  Daw- 
son City  there  were  1,500  people  in  Circle  City.  A  recent 
letter  from  Circle  City  relates  the  sad  fact  that  there  are 
three  men,  two  women,  one  child  and  four  yellow  curs 
left.  From  all  reports  Dawson  City  is  an  orderly  place, 
all  things  considered.  The  Northwest  territory  mounted 
police  and  the  Canadian  land  officials  thus  far  have  suc- 
ceeded in  maintaining  law  and  order  to  a  degree  that  can 
scarcely  be  appreciated  by  one  who  is  familiar  with  the 
so-called  "typical"  mining  towns. 

The  people  as  a  rule  are  law-abiding  and  attend  to  their 
own  business.  In  fact  all  are  too  busy  looking  after  wealth 
to  resort  to  any  lawlessness.  Joe  Ladue,  the  father  of 
Dawson  City,  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  stealing 
is  practically  unknown  in  that  town.  Gold  dust,  grains 
and  nuggets  are  kept  in  tin  cans,  iron  kettles,  worn  out 


PROSPECTORS   STRIKING   A   NEW   CREEK. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  271 

rubber  boots,  oil  cans,  and  left  in  tents  and  cabins  without 
watch  or  guard  being  placed  over  them.  This  was  the 
Dawson  City  up  to  the  time  the  flood  of  gold-seekers 
overwhelmed  it  this  year.  The  Canadian  authorities  be- 
lieve that  they  will  be  able  to  smash  all  traditions,  so  far 
as  mining  towns  are  concerned,  by  making  and  keeping 
Dawson  City  a  highly  moral  frontier  town. 

Joseph  Ladue,  the  owner  of  Dawson  City,  is  one  of  the 
fortunate  men  who  made  a  large  strike.  He  says  he  does 
not  know  how  much  he  is  worth,  but  those  who  are  as- 
sociated with  him  place  his  figures  up  among  the  millions. 
He  is  a  resident,  when  at  home,  of  Schuyler  Halls,  Clin- 
ton county.  New  York.  He  has  great  hopes  for  the 
future  of  the  city  he  owns.  In  speaking  of  his  possessions 
Ladue  said  that  the  summer  for  Dawson  City  opens  about 
May  15  and  by  June  i,  no  snow  is  seen  anywhere. 

Grain  is  planted  or  sown  about  May  15,  and  he  has 
raised  barley  and  oats  there  for  two  years.  Potatoes  do 
not  mature  in  Dawson.  On  the  highlands  the  frost  strikes 
everything  each  year.  So  the  farming  is  all  done  on  the 
islands.  McOuestion,  the  Hudson's  Bay  trader  at  Forty 
Mile,  has  raised  potatoes,  barley,  oats,  turnips,  lettuce, 
radishes  and  cabbage.  He  sells  his  produce  to  the  miners 
and  gets  good  prices  for  it.  Turnips,  for  instance,  bring 
ten  cents  a  pound.  At  Ft.  Selkirk,  178  miles  south  of 
Dawson,  is  another  garden,  owned  and  cultivated  by 
Harper,  sometimes  called  the  "grand  old  man  of  the  Yu- 
kon." 

The  summer  lasts  from  the  middle  of  May  to  Septem- 
ber I.  The  longest  day  in  Dawson  City  is  June  22;  on 
that  day  the  Klondikers  have  the  sun  for  twenty  hours, 
"clear,  warm  sun,"  as  Joe  Ladue  expressed  it.  Winter 
sets  in  September  i,  and  the  cold  comes  on  gradually. 
September  and  October  weather  is  fine,  October  being 
U 


272  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

about  as  November  is  in  the  United  States.  After  that 
everything  is  closed  up,  including  the  Yukon  river,  which 
freezes  over  between  November  i  and  lo,  and  it  is  not 
navigable  after  that  time  until  the  next  spring.  The  ice 
in  the  river  freezes  five  and  a  half  feet  thick. 

They  have  bath  tubs  in  Dawson  City,  ''real  zinc  bath- 
tubs," according  to  Joe  Ladue,  and  it  costs  a  Klondiker 
$1  a  bath  in  a  barber  shop.  But  the  prospector,  who  has 
a  thrifty  nature  and  is  saving  his  cash,  seldom  patronizes 
these  dollar  a  bath  tubs.  He  takes  a  Russian  bath  for 
nothing.  The  Russian  bath  houses  are  made  out  of  logs, 
an  arch  of  stones  is  made  on  the  floor  of  the  house  and  a 
fire  built  under  until  the  stones  are  red  hot.  The  door  is 
closed  tight,  and  a  barrel  of  water  is  thrown  over  the 
stones  until  the  hot  steam  fills  the  room,  and  the  Klon- 
diker walks  around  with  every  pore  wide  open,  dripping 
with  perspiration.  As  Joe  Ladue  puts  it,  "it  is  a  good 
sweat  bath  and  is  all  right  too  for  cleaning." 

Several  preachers  are  on  their  way  to  the  Klondike, 
but  the  church  of  England  has  one  of  its  clergymen  on 
the  ground.  Bishop  Bompas  is  at  the  head  of  the  dio- 
cese which  includes  the  Klondike  district,  and  an  episco- 
pal clergyman  officiates  in  Dawson  City.  When  Ladue 
left  Dawson  City  he  was  told  that  Bishop  Bompas  in- 
tended to  move  from  Forty  Mile  to  the  metropolis  of  the 
Klondike. 

Men  who  have  returned  from  Dawson  City  tell  great 
tales  of  the  magnificence  of  the  bars  over  which  the  sev- 
eral kinds  of  drinks  in  vogue  in  Dawson  are  servecl.  One 
of  the  bars  cost  $750  in  San  Francisco  before  it  was 
loaded  on  the  ship,  and  another  one  is  said  to  be  equally 
as  expensive.  The  dance  hall  is  a  frame  building  covered 
with  white  drilling.  It  is  about  80  feet  long  and  40  feet 
wide.    The  orchestra  consists  of  a  horn,  a  violin,  and  a 


Book  for  gold-sEekers.  273 

piano,  and  everything  is  50  cents  a  drink.  There  were 
10  saloons  and  only  3  restaurants  in  Dawson  City  when 
Ladue  left.  One  of  the  restaurants  was  an  attachment  to 
a  barber  shop. 

A  table  d'hote  dinner  cost  $1.50  and  consists  of  bacon, 
beans,  bread,  cofifee,  a  piece  of  cheese  and  dried  fruit. 
And  the  restaurant  keepers  sell  everything  that  can  be 
made  into  a  warm  meal  for  the  miners  who  have  been  liv- 
ing on  hardtack  and  salt  pork  for  several  months.  The 
laundries  charge  25  cents  a  piece  for  everything  that  goes 
into  the  washtub,  from  towels  to  blue  shirts.  The  stew- 
ardess on  the  steamer  Willipaw  forsook  the  raging  Yu- 
kon and  took  to  washing  in  Dawson  City,  and  she  did  first 
rate.  She  also  started  a  bake-shop,  and  one  small  loaf  of 
her  home  made  bread  sold  for  50  cents. 

Gambling  is  carried  on  at  Dawson  City  to  suit  all  con- 
ditions of  persons;  no  stake  less  than  a  dollar  is  allowed 
and  jackpots  frequently  run  up  to  enough  "ounces"  of 
gold  dust  to  represent  several  thousands  of  dollars.  It  is 
claimed  that  there  has  not  been  even  a  first-class  fist  fight 
over  a  gambling  game  in  Dawson  City  since  Joe  Ladue 
laid  out  the  town  site.  From  all  accounts  gambling  is 
all  "straight"  in  Dawson  City,  for  cheating  is  regarded  as 
akin  to  stealing,  and  stealing  is  put  down  as  a  worse 
crime  than  murder  in  that  section  of  the  globe. 

The  Canadian  authorities  have  established  a  postofifice 
at  Dawson  City.  This  makes  three  Canadian  postofifices 
in  that  portion  of  the  Northwest  territory.  The  other 
two  offices  are  at  Forty  Alile  and  Fort  Cudahy,  The  mail 
is  carried   by  the  mounted  police  from  Dyea. 

Robert  Krook,  a  Swedish  Klondiker,  tells  stories  some- 
what different  from  the  average  of  those  that  have  come 
from  the  lips  of  returned  miners.    He  said : 

"Until  this  spring  the  men  never  put  locks  on  the  doors 


274  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

of  their  cabins,  and  nothing  was  stolen.  You  might  go 
into  any  cabin  and  see  a  glass  or  a  tin  or  two  on  the  shelf 
full  of  gold  and  no  one  would  think  of  touching  it.  Any- 
one could  steal  if  he  wanted  to  do  so,  but  there  were 
reasons  why  they  did  not.  It  was  only  after  the  mounted 
police  arrived  that  locks  and  bolts  became  a  necessity.  Be- 
fore that  there  were  what  we  called  'miners'  laws.'  Forty 
or  fifty  of  the  miners  would  call  a  meeting,  select  a  chair- 
man, and  then  if  a  man  could  make  his  own  'talk'  he  did 
so  or  he  would  get  some  one  to  make  it  for  him.  When 
both  sides  of  the  case  had  been  heard  the  chairman  would 
call  for  a  vote.  The  decision  was  final.  If  a  man  gave 
trouble  he  had  to  go.  Now  they  do  not  have  miners' 
laws  any  more.  We  had  no  trouble  during  three  years, 
because  all  questions  were  settled  at  these  meetings  of 
miners.  All  disputes  about  claims  were  argued  and  ad- 
judicated in  the  same  way." 

Some  amusing  details  were  given  of  the  way  in  which 
the  men  spend  the  long  nights  in  the  winter.  As  each 
claim  extends  only  500  feet  up  and  down  the  stream,  the 
cabins  are  close  together  and  tlie  men  visit  one  another. 
In  the  Klondike,  or  for  that  matter  at  Forty  Mile  creek 
or  any  of  these  faraway  mining  camps,  the  men  are  expert 
checker  players,  because  that  is  the  principal  amusement, 
with  whist  as  the  favorite  card  game. 

"No  paper  is  too  old,"  said  Mr.  Krook,  "to  read.  We 
read  all  the  advertisements  and  all  the  can  labels.  There 
was  a  supply  of  canned  lobsters  at  the  camp  and  some 
man  used  to  put  up  with  the  cans  wrappings  of  sheets 
from  the  bible.  We  used  to  commit  the  chapters  to  mem- 
ory and  see  who  could  repeat  them  first  without  a  mis- 
take. 

"The  food  is  neither  extra  choice  nor  plentiful.  But  it 
is  expensive.    Bacon,  ham  and  beans  are  the  general  rule 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  275 

— no  French  wines  or  champagnes.  The  supplies  are 
short  at  best  and  a  man  must  often  take  bacon  that  he 
would  not  throw  to  a  dog  or  go  without.  There  is  usually 
more  whisky  and  hardware  on  hand  than  anything  else. 
A  man  only  needs  a  certain  amount  of  hardware,  and  the 
less  whisky  he  can  get  on  with  the  better  he  is  ofif. 

"Sometimes  a  man  has  to  watch  his  supplies  pretty 
close,  and  they  usually  build  a  'cache' — that  is,  a  little 
platform  set  high  up  on  light  poles.  He  can  then  haul 
up  his  bacon  and  'grub'  and  cover  it  with  a  tarpaulin. 
The  risk  of  leaving  the  'grub'  in  the  cabin  is  that  the  bears 
get  at  it.  They  will  even  tear  the  roof  off  to  get  in,  and 
there  are  plenty  of  the  animals.  They  won't  climb  the  thin 
posts,  particularly  when  the  bark  has  been  peeled  ofif. 

"In  regard  to  clothing,  a  man  does  not  need  much  in 
summer,  and  in  winter  he  studies  comfort,  not  looks.  In 
winter  we  wear  moccasins  and  in  summer  while  sluicing 
gum  boots.  I  have  not  had  leather  on  my  feet  since  I 
left.  Overalls  cost  $2.50  in  Klondike,  and  everything  else 
in  proportion,  but  it  is  a  great  country  to  make  money  in." 
W.  D.  Johns,  the  special  correspondent  of  the  CHICA- 
GO RECORD,  who  has  been  in  the  Yukon  country  for 
two  years,  sent  a  letter  to  the  RECORD  describing  gold 
digging  in  winter  in  the  Birch  creek  district.  This  letter 
was  written  December  21,  1896,  and  was  published  March 
2,  1897,  and  was  the  first  announcement,  to  be  published 
in  any  newspaper,  of  the  Klondike  find.  Mr.  Johns'  letter 
reads  as  follows : 

"Life,  climate  and  work  in  interior  Alaska,  close  to  the 
arctic  circle,  in  winter  is  vastly  different  from  that  which 
the  popular  belief  supposes  it  to  be.  While  not  as  desira- 
ble a  place  of  winter  residence  as  countries  farther  south, 
it  is  one  in  which  men  travel,  work  and  live,  taking  suita- 
ble precautions,  without  serious  trouble  or  danger  unless 


276  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

they  meet  with  accidents  or  get  caught  out  when  the  tem- 
perature takes  a  sudden  drop  down  to  70  or  80  degrees 
below  zero.  In  that  case  if  not  well  prepared  there  is 
danger,  of  course.  But  the  principal  danger  is  in  getting 
the  feet  wet  where  the  water  has  overflowed  the  river  or 
creek  ice  and  of  freezing  before  a  fire  can  be  built  and  the 
feet  dried.  More  men  are  fatally  frozen  in  this  way  than 
any  other.  The  river  froze  up  later  this  fall,  November  5, 
and  since  then  the  weather  has  been  steadily  cold,  aver- 
aging 20  degrees  below  zero  and  running  down  at  times 
to  40  and  50  degrees  below,  which  is  the  lowest  point  yet 
touched,  it  having  been  a  warm  winter  so  far. 

"Dog  teams  and  horses  are  freighting  out  to  the  mines 
60  miles  back  of  the  river.  Miners  are  going  and  coming 
to  and  from  the  diggings,  where  they  are  now  engaged  in 
drifting,  and  many  are  going  to  the  new  place  of  excite- 
ment at  Klondike,  in  the  Northwest  territory,  260  miles 
above  Circle  City,  on  the  Yukon.  Among  them  are  some 
women.  Yet  one  hears  less  complaint  about  the  weather 
than  in  a  cold  winter  in  Chicago.  When  the  thermome- 
ter drops  50  degrees  below  zero  or  lower  most  men  re- 
main in  their  huts  if  on  the  trail  or  in  their  cabins  if  cut- 
ting wood  or  at  other  work,  but  many  travel  when  it  is  60 
degrees  below  zero  and  work  in  the  shafts  sinking  and 
drifting  out  the  pay  dirt — not  altogether  pleasant  for  the 
man  who  is  working  the  windlass  above.  At  times  too, 
it  blows  almost  a  gale  when  the  thermometer  is  low  and 
then  it  is  almost  unendurable. 

"In  the  Birch  creek  diggings  water  seriously  interferes 
with  the  winter  digging  in  many  places  and  it  is  not  until 
late  in  the  winter  that  some  of  them  can  be  worked  on 
this  account.  The  earth  down  here  is  not  eternally  frozen 
to  a  great  depth,  as  has  been  supposed.  On  the  river 
above  in  the  Northwest  territory,  this  supposition  is  more 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  277 

generally  true  and  they  are  troubled  much  less  with 
water  than  here,  but  even  there  it  causes  trouble.  Another 
generally  received  fallacy  is  that  it  'never  rains'  here.  On 
the  upper  river  the  climate  is  dry,  with  but  little  rain,  but 
when  one  gets  as  far  down  as  Forty  Mile  one  has  almost 
as  much  rain  as  in  North  Dakota,  and  it  increases  down 
the  river.  So  that  here  there  is  a  good  deal  of  rain.  Up 
in  the  mountains  this  rain  turns  to  snow,  which  is  not  in- 
frequent at  the  diggings  in  midsummer.  This  accounts 
for  the  millions  of  mosquitoes,  which  are  actually  danger- 
ous to  life  here  if  a  man's  face  and  body  are  not  protected. 
On  the  upper  Yukon  they  are  not  one-tenth  as  bad  as 
down  here,  owing  to  the  drier  climate.  Tetany  a  'chechaco' 
(tenderfoot)  on  his  way  to  the  mines,  with  a  pack  on  his 
back,  has  thrown  down  everything  and  struck  back  for 
town  and  gone  on  down  the  river  without  delay,  cursing 
the  country  and  its  mosquitoes.  Not  one-third  of  those 
coming  in  stay  over  winter. 

"To  those  who  stay  and  work  the  country  offers  great 
rewards  in  comparison  with  what  the  average  man  can 
make  below,  and  the  chance  of  a  fortune.  In  this  district 
the  mines  offer  the  only  source  now,  for  Circle  City  is 
fully  built,  and  the  men  who  worked  at  it  last  summer 
will  have  to  do  something  else,  for  there  will  be  no  build- 
ing to  speak  of.  At  the  present  time  it  is  very  quiet. 
Many  men  went  out,  and  almost  all  the  rest  have  gone 
to  the  different  creeks  to  sink  prospect  holes  or  to  drift 
out  pay  dirt,  which  in  some  creeks  does  not  have  to  be 
burned,  as  there  is  no  frost  after  they  get  down  to  the 
pay.  Last  summer  $500,000  was  taken  out  of  Birch  creek 
district,  and  this  winter  they  expect  to  take  out  $200,000, 
allowing  $500  to  the  man,  a  very  low  estimate.  As  the 
country  has  not  yet  been  thoroughly  prospected  this 
amount  will  probably  be  increased  next  year  and  for  some 


278  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

years  to  come.  Parties  are  now  out  and  more  are  going 
to  prospect  creeks  over  the  range,  and  before  spring  new 
discoveries  will  undoubtedly  be  made. 

"The  new  Klondike  strike  in  the  Northwest  territory 
(Canada)  is  an  example  of  how  little  is  known  of  this 
region.  Only  50  miles  up  the  Yukon  from  the  old  Forty 
Mile  post,  where  the  Canadian  government  now  has  a  po- 
lice force,  it  has  been  casually  gone  over  several  times  by 
prospectors  who  kept  to  the  main  creek  or  river.  Last 
summer  a  squaw  man  was  induced  to  go  up  a  side  creek 
of  the  Klondike  by  his  Indian  brother-in-law,  and  they 
found  the  gold  on  what  is  now  asserted  to  be  the  richest 
creek  in  the  gold  region,  and  one  of  the  richest  ever  struck 
anywhere.  I  myself  have  panned  and  seen  panned  some 
wonderfully  rich  prospects  on  the  surface,  as  high  as  $3  to 
the  pan.  If  the  reports  now  coming  down  from  Klon- 
dike are  true  they  have  it  richer  still  on  the  bed  rock. 

"It  is  a  great  district,  with  many  rich  gulches,  and  will 
support  an  immense  mining  population  when  opened  up 
in  a  year  from  now,  though  the  news  will  bring  in  a  host 
of  men  who  will  be  unable  to  find  work  and  who,  unless 
they  have  money,  will  have  to  go  out,  as  the  companies 
have  absolutely  shut  down  on  the  credit  they  used  to  give. 
It  is  a  matter  of  regret  with  Americans  that  these  diggings 
are  under  the  paw  of  the  British  lion.  Many  believe,  in- 
deed, that  the  majority  of  the  rich  strikes  of  the  future 
w^ill  be  on  Canadian  soil,  near  the  main  chain  of  the 
Rockies,  which  sends  only  spurs  westward  into  Alaska. 
The  Klondike  diggings  are  on  the  same  spur  of  the 
Rockies  as  those  of  Birch  creek,  260  miles  down  the  river, 
but  they  are  only  about  60  miles  from  the  main  range.  A 
number  of  minor  creeks  were  struck  on  the  same  range 
between  Circle  City  and  the  Canadian  line  last  summer. 

"Every  one  coming  in  this  spring  ought  to  bring  a 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  ^81 

year's  supplies,  as  so  great  a  rush  to  the  new  strike  is  an- 
ticipated that  the  companies  will  not  be  able  to  supply 
the  demand  with  their  present  steamer  capacity.  In  the 
past  they  have  just  managed  to  supply  the  demand,  fall- 
ing short  of  many  articles,  and  each  fall  sees  a  repetition 
of  the  scarcity.  Just  keeping  up  with  the  demand,  they 
cannot  supply  a  rush  such  as  the  Klondike  strike  will  un- 
doubtedly bring  in,  so  that  hardships  must  result  unless 
newcomers  bring  a  year's  supply  down  the  river. 

"Independent  steamers  are  needed  that  will  carry 
freight.  As  it  is  now,  if  one  can  get  freight  carried  at  all 
up  the  river  it  costs  $280  a  ton,  all  water  transportation 
from  Seattle  and  up  one  of  the  finest  navigable  rivers  in 
the  world,  so  pronounced  by  competent  Mississippi  river 
steamboat  captains,  who  are  in  here.  The  North  American 
Transportation  company,  of  which  P.  B.  Weare  and  Jack 
Cudahy  are  the  principal  stockholders,  put  a  new  steam- 
er on  the  Yukon  the  last  summer,  as  did  the  Alaska  Com- 
mercial company,  of  San  Francisco,  but  this  fall  there  was 
the  usual  shortage  of  supplies.  The  Weare  company, 
which  did  all  in  its  power  to  get  up  provisions,  is  said  to 
intend  putting  on  another  steamer  next  summer.  But 
what  is  needed  is  a  steamer,  or  steamers,  which  will  carry 
freight  for  the  many  who  now  cannot  get  a  pound  earned 
up  the  river  at  any  price. 

"The  country  is  on  the  eve  of  a  great  development,  and 
prices  are  simply  enormous.  In  a  few  years  when  prices 
come  down  there  are  hundreds  of  claims  paying  $6,  $7, 
$8  or  $9  a  day  that  can  be  worked  that  now  cannot  be 
touched  because  of  the  expense  of  food,  tools  and 
clothes." 

Joe  Ladue  says  that  Dawson  City,  Circle  City  and 
Forty  Mile  are  towns  for  "women-folk,"  because  "any 
woman  who  can  live  anywhere  on  top  of  the  earth  can  live 


282  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

up  there  and  be  happy."  The  women  of  the  upper  Yukon 
seem  to  be  of  the  same  opinion,  judging  from  the  letters 
they  send  "home."  The  following  interesting  letter  was 
received  by  John  C.  Hessian,  a  well-known  attorney  in 
Duluth,  ]Minn.,  from  his  sister,  whose  husband  is  a  hard- 
ware merchant  at  Fort  Cudahy.    She  writes  as  follows : 

"I  was  the  ninth  white  woman  in  this  country,  and 
three  out  of  the  nine  arrived  only  a  month  ahead  of  me. 
There  are  about  two  dozen  now.  I  know  eight  of  them, 
and  w^e  get  along  nicely  together.  There  are  about  two 
thousand  white  men  scattered  through  this  part  of  the 
country,  and  a  carload  of  girls  would  go  like  hot  cakes. 
In  coming  into  this  place  we  came  from  Seattle  out  to 
Cape  Flattery,  through  the  northern  waters  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  the  Bering  sea  and  up  the  Yukon  river.  We  were 
six  weeks  en  route.  I  stood  the  trip  well,  and  was  the 
only  passenger  able  to  eat  three  or  more  times  a  day. 
At  the  mouth  of  the  great  river,  the  Yukon,  we  took  the 
river  boat,  which  is  very  fine,  with  splendid  accommoda- 
tions. The  scenery  is  beautiful  all  the  1600  miles  to 
this  camp. 

"The  Yukon  is  about  two  thousand  miles  long,  and  has 
a  great  many  good-sized  rivers  flowing  into  it.  It  does 
not  freeze  up  before  October  10,  although  we  have  some 
very  cold  weather  before  that  time,  but  it  takes  cold 
weather  to  stop  these  swift  steamers.  When  it  does 
freeze  up,  instead  of  freezing  smooth  the  huge  cakes  of 
ice  seem  to  be  standing  on  edge  from  12  to  15  feet  high 
in  places.  I  don't  know  how  to  describe  it  any  better  than 
by  likening  it  to  an  ice-house  blown  up  with  dynamite. 
We  are  living  on  British  soil,  30  miles  from  the  Alaska 
line,  nine  blocks  or  thereabouts  from  the  north  pole,  and 
1,600  miles  from  a  railroad.  Until  the  last  few  months 
we  have  had  no  mail  route,  but  persons  coming  in  in  the 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  283 

spring  and  summer  usually  brought  in  the  letters  that  ac- 
cumulated at  Juneau.    They  brought  in  letters  only. 

"Mining  is  the  only  industry.  Gold  can  be  found  in  the 
gravel  on  nearly  any  river,  creek  or  gulch.  Two  obstacles 
the  miner  has  to  contend  with  are  the  short  seasons  and 
the  frozen  condition  of  the  country.  The  earth,  in  sum- 
mer, only  thaws  two  or  three  feet,  and  that  only  in  places 
exposed  to  the  sun.  There  is  no  coin  or  currency  in  the 
country  to  speak  of.  All  business  is  transacted  with  gold 
dust.  No  laws  are  recognized  here  except  those  made  by 
the  miners  themselves.  There  is  a  good  class  of  men  here, 
pretty  well  mixed;  goodhearted,  hard  workers.  The  In- 
dians are  very  numerous  here  and  throughout  the  coun- 
try. They  are  peaceable  and  self-supporting.  They  look 
as  much  like  the  Chinese  or  Japs  as  they  do  like  Indians. 
They  try  to  imitate  the  white  man  in  dress.  Freighting  is 
done  entirely  by  dogs.  These  animals  resemble  the  wolf 
in  appearance,  and  are  sold  at  $75,  $100  and  $125  each. 
The  large  game  of  the  country  is  bear,  wolves,  moose  and 
caribou,  a  species  of  the  reindeer.  The  last  two  are  fine 
eating. 

"The  mercury  goes  sometimes  as  low  as  80  degrees  be- 
low zero.  At  such  a  time  a  basinful  of  hot  water  thrown 
up  in  the  air  will  come  down  in  icicles.  We  are  about  30 
miles  south  of  the  arctic  circle.  During  the  short  days  it 
begins  to  get  dark  at  3  p.  m.,  daylight  appearing  about 
9:30  a.  m.  During  the  very  shortest  days  the  sun  drops 
entirely  out  of  sight,  and  is  invisible  for  three  weeks. 
Dunng  the  long  summer  days  we  have  continual  day- 
light. You  can  see  to  read  or  write  at  night  as  well  as  at 
any  time  during  the  day.  The  sun  rises  and  sets  in  the 
west  in  July,  and  during  the  shortest  days  it  rises  and  sets 
in  the  east.  The  moon  acts  in  the  same  manner.  The 
northern  lights,  during  the  winter  months,  are  beautiful 


284  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

to  look  at.  They  move  so  rapidly  and  form  into  such 
beautiful  shapes  and  colors  that  you  could  wish  for  noth- 
ing else  more  interesting.  It  would  be  utterly  useless 
for  me  to  attempt  to  explain  these  wonderful  beauties  of 
nature.  The  seasons  of  the  year  are  9  months  winter 
and  3  late  in  the  fall. 

"Just  hsten  to  the  buzz  of  the  mosquitoes!  It  is  my 
opinion  there  is  only  one  flock,  and  that  covers  the  entire 
country,  for  there  are  mosquitoes  In  every  place  you  can 
go  or  think  of.  They  are  as  thick  as  snowflakes  in  a 
snowbank.  They  get  into  activity  and  stay  right  with 
you.  They  do  business  day  and  night.  A  mosquito  bar 
is  as  essential  in  summer  as  an  overcoat  in  winter. 
When  they  quit,  a  small  gnat  shows  up.  The  latter  is 
fully  as  bad  and  far  more  numerous. 

"The  river  boats  have  scarcely  four  months  in  the  year 
in  which  to  run.  There  are  four  boats  running,  and  two 
more  are  building.  Each  of  the  boats  can  bring  350 
tons  of  freight,  but  the  amount  of  provisions  that  is 
needed  for  the  different  ports  the  full  length  of  the  river 
is  immense,  and  there  is  always  a  shortage  in  some  things. 

"On  the  Bering  sea,  from  our  steamer,  about  15  miles 
distant,  we  saw  a  mountain  1,500  feet  high,  of  solid  rock, 
and  on  top  of  that  a  statue  of  rock,  a  perfect  representa- 
tion of  a  bishop  in  his  robes,  crosier  in  hand,  as  perfect 
and  real  as  anything  you  ever  saw.  The  immense  rock 
stands  all  alone,  not  another  thing  to  be  seen  but  water. 
On  this  river  also  there  are  two  immense  rocks  standing 
all  alone,  one  on  each  side  of  the  river.  They  are  called 
Adam  and  Eve.  You  would  travel  the  w^orld  over  and 
not  be  able  to  meet  with  prettier  scenery  than  can  be  seen 
along  this  river.  While  at  Circle  City  we  saw  a  rainbow 
at  a  quarter  to  midnight. 

"Fresh  vegetables  are  hardly  known  here.     The  sea- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  285 

son  is  too  short  to  give  them  time  to  develop.  Wild 
onions  and  rhubarb  can  be  found  everywhere.  They  are 
terribly  strong,  but  we  relish  them  as  you  would  straw- 
berries and  ice  cream.  The  blueberry,  cranberry,  sal- 
monberry,  wild  raspberry  and  red  currants  grow  in  abun- 
dance on  the  islands  and  on  the  sides  of  the  mountains. 

"Just  now,  the  old  mail  arrived.  It  was  lost  upon  the 
summit  nearly  a  year  ago.  I  got  a  letter  from  ]\Iaggie 
in  it.  It  is  nothing  to  get  mail  several  months  old  here. 
We  have  no  more  idea  of  what  is  going  on  in  the  world 
than  a  Yukon  Indian.  The  river  boats  failed  to  make 
connection  with  the  ocean  steamers  all  summer.  Finally, 
the  Canadian  surveyors  here  had  set  the  time  to  go  out 
from  here  and  would  take  mail.  They  were  going  over- 
land, leaving  here  on  the  morning  of  Sept.  20,  but  on 
that  very  morning  it  began  to  lain,  snow  and  blow,  and 
continued  so  until  the  26th,  when  the  slush  ice  began  to 
run  in  the  Yukon  and  winter  set  right  in.  No  one  has 
gone  out  since,  but  the  surveyors  will  start  tomorrow. 
The  steamboats  were  all  frozen  in  along  the  river,  loaded 
for  this  port.  Provisions  are  very  scarce.  Many  of  the 
miners  have  to  go  down  the  river  for  the  winter,  while 
many  others  will  winter  on  a  hundred  pounds  of  flour 
and  caribou.  We  have  plenty  of  everything,  in  fact,  all 
the  families  have.  The  only  sad  part  of  it  for  us  is  that 
all  of  our  goods  are  on  the  steamer  Bella,  two  hundred 
miles  from  here,  and  we  will  not  see  them  until  next  sum- 
mer. This  was  a  backward  summer  for  the  steamers. 
The  wind  blew  so  hard  around  St.  Michael  they  could 
scarcely  unload  the  ocean  vessels,  as  they  have  to  unload 
about  one  mile  from  the  shore  on  account  of  low  water. 
"Sixty  head  of  cattle  were  driven  in  from  Juneau  and 
got  here  last  week.  The  first  beef  ever  in  the  country. 
We  got  two  porterhouse  steaks  for  Sunday  dinner.  They 


286  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

cost  $10 — $1  per  pound — bone,  trimmings,  fat,  horns,  and 
tail,  all  the  same  price.  We  got,  by  chance,  250  pounds 
of  native  potatoes — we  are  the  only  ones  with  that  many. 
The  ship's  potatoes  are  on  the  steamers  with  the  rest  of 
the  eatables.  We  had  to  kill  our  chickens,  as  the  chicken 
feed  did  not  get  here.  I  have  them  frozen,  and  will  have 
chicken  for  Christmas  and  New  Year's. 

"There  was  a  new  mining  district  discovered,  50  miles 
up  the  Yukon  from  here,  two  months  ago.  It  is  turning 
out  to  be  a  great  thing.  There  are  over  six  hundred 
claims  already  staked,  and  a  new  town  started  called 
Klondike.  Pat  went  up  with  the  first  excitement  and 
got  three  town  lots.  One  of  them  he  has  already  been 
ofifered  $1,500  for,  but  will  not  sell.  He  also  staked  two 
claims  and  bought  another  this  week  for  $1,500.  These 
are  all  placer  mines.  I  also  have  a  claim.  Pat  and  I 
have  men  prospecting  on  our  claims.  We  may  never 
get  a  cent  out  of  them,  and  we  may  get  thousands.  We 
are  running  that  risk. 

"I  have  been  writing  this  by  lamp  light,  but  just  now, 
at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  the  sun  is  just  coming  over  the  moun- 
tain tops,  with  two  sun  dogs  accompanying  it.  It  is  40 
below,  with  a  strong  wind  blowing. 

"We  got  your  papers  and  clippings  and  passed  them 
around.  You  don't  know  what  a  treat  it  is  to  see  print 
in  here.  Pat  would  give  his  head  to  know  something 
about  the  election.  He  sincerely  hopes  Bryan  is  presi- 
dent, and  tries  to  console  himself  by  thinking  he  actually 
must  be  the  man. 

"I  am  knitting  socks  and  stockings.  I  only  wear  two 
pairs  at  a  time,  with  a  pair  of  Dutch  socks  and  a  pair 
of  fur  boots." 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  287 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

OGILVIE'S  REPORT  ON  THE  YUKON 
DISTRICT. 

YUKON  DISTRICT  in  which  the 
Klondike  placer  mines  are  located 
was  traversed  by  traders  of  the  Hud- 
son Bay  company  as  far  back  as 
1840.  William  Ogilvie  the  land  sur- 
veyor of  the  Dominion  of  Canada, 
commissioned  by  the  Department  of 
^  the   Interior  of  the  Dominion  gov- 

ernment to  survey  that  district,  returned  from  there  in 
the  early  summer  of  1897.  In  his  report  he 
designates  the  Yukon  district  as  that  part  of  the 
Northwest  territory  lying  west  of  the  water-shed 
of  the  Mackenzie  river,  most  of  it  being  drained  by  the 
Yukon  river  and  its  tributaries.  It  covers  a  distance  of 
about  650  miles  along  the  river  from  the  Coast  range  of 
mountains. 

In  1847  Fort  Yukon  was  established  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Porcupine  river  by  A.  H.  Murray,  a  member  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  company.  Seven  years  prior  Robert  Camp- 
bell explored  the  upper  Liard  river  and  the  Pelly  river 
down  to  the  confluence  of  the  Lewes  river. 

In  1848  Campbell  established  Fort  Selkirk  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Pelly  and  Lewes  rivers;  it  was  plundered 
and  destroyed  in  1852  by  the  Coast  Indians  and  only  the 
ruins  now  exist  of  what  was  at  one  time  the  most  import- 
ant post  of  the  Hudson  Bay  company  to  the  west  of  the 
Rocky  mountains  in  the  far  north.     In  1869  the  United 


288  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

States  government  expelled  the  Hudson  Bay  company's 
offices  at  Fort  Yukon,  as  it  was  found  that  the  post  was 
not  located  in  British  territory.  The  officer  in  charge 
ascended  the  Porcupine  river  to  a  point  which  was  sup- 
posed to  be  within  British  jurisdiction,  where  he  estab- 
lished Rampart  House;  but  in  1890  J.  H.  Turner  of  the 
United  States  coast  survey  found  that  post  was  twenty 
miles  within  the  lines  of  the  United  States.  Consequently 
in  1 89 1  the  post  was  moved  twenty  miles  further  up  the 
river  to  be  within  British  territor}^  The  next  people  to 
enter  the  country  for  trading  purposes  were  Harper  and 
McQuestion.  They  have  been  trading  in  the  country 
since  1873;  Mr.  Harper  is  now  located  as  a  trader  at 
Fort  Selkirk,  and  Mr.  McQuestion  is  in  the  employ  of 
the  Alaska  Commercial  company  at  Circle  City,  which  is 
the  distributing  point  for  the  vast  regions  surrounding 
Birch  creek,  Alaska.  In  1882  a  number  of  miners  en- 
tered the  Yukon  country.  The  next  year  Lieutenant 
Schwatka  of  the  United  States  navy  ascended  the  Lewes 
and  Yukon  rivers  to  the  ocean. 

In  1887  Thomas  White,  the  minister  of  the  Interior  of 
Canada,  authorized  the  organization  of  an  expedition  hav- 
ing as  its  object  the  exploration  of  that  region  of  the 
Northwest  territories  of  Canada  that  are  drained  by  the 
Yukon  river.  The  work  was  intrusted  to  Dr.  George  M. 
Dawson,  now  the  director  of  the  geological  survey  of  the 
Dominion  government,  and  William  Ogilvie,  the  well- 
known  explorer  and  surveyor.  Dr.  Dawson  devoted  the 
whole  of  that  season,  and  Mr.  Ogilvie  a  period  covering 
nearly  two  years  to  obtaining  geological,  topographical 
and  general  information,  chiefly  respecting  the  tract  of 
country  lying  adjacent  to  the  141st  meridian  of  longitude, 
which,  by  the  treaty  of  St.  Petersburg,  was  designated  as 
the  boundary  line  from  the  neighborhood  of  Mt  St.  Elias 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  2yi 

to  the  Arctic  ocean,  between  Alaska  and  the  Northwest 
territories  of  Canada. 

The  explorers  found  that  in  proximity  to  the  boundary 
line  there  existed  extensive  and  valuable  placer  gold 
mines,  where  even  then  as  many  as  three  hundred  miners 
were  at  work.  Mr.  Ogilvie  determined  by  a  series  of 
lunar  observations,  the  point  at  which  the  Yukon  river 
is  intersected  by  the  141st  meridian,  and  marked  the  same 
on  the  ground.  He  also  determined  and  marked  the 
point  at  which  the  western  branch  of  the  Yukon,  known 
as  Forty  Mile  creek,  is  crossed  by  the  same  meridian  line, 
and  located  that  point  at  a  distance  of  about  twenty-three 
miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  creek.  At  the  junction  of 
the  Yukon  and  Forty  Mile  creek  Fort  Cudahy  is  located, 
and  according  to  this  survey  is  well  within  Canadian  ter- 
ritory. Mr.  Ogilvie  reported  to  the  Canadian  government 
that  the  greater  proportion  of  the  mines  then  being 
worked  was  on  the  Canadian  side  of  the  international 
boundary  line.  Extracts  from  Mr.  Ogilvie's  report  follow: 

"The  Alaska  Commercial  company,  for  many  years 
subsequent  to  the  retirement  of  the  Hudson  Bay  com- 
pany, had  a  practical  monopoly  of  the  trade  of  the  Yukon. 
With  the  discovery  of  gold  came  the  organization  of  a 
competing  company  known  as  the  North  American 
Transportation  and  Trading  company,  having  its  head- 
quarters in  Chicago  and  its  chief  trading  and  distributing 
post  at  Fort  Cudahy.  Both  of  these  companies  have 
steamers  plying  between  San  Francisco,  Seattle  and  St. 
Michael. 

"At  the  last  named  place  the  passengers  and  freight 
are  transferred  to  stern-wheel  river  boats,  and  Fort  Cud- 
ahy is  reached  after  ascending  the  swift  current  of  the 
Yukon  for  sixteen  hundred  miles.  This  is  the  easiest, 
15 


^92  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

but  the  longest  route,  and  the  diggings  are  not  reached 
until  a  considerable  portion  of  the  short  summer  season 
is  passed.  Mr.  Ogilvie,  in  his  report,  says  as  a  rule  it  is 
not  safe  to  enter  Norton  sound  (in  which  the  island  of 
St.  Michael  is  located)  on  account  of  ice  before  the  first 
of  July. 

"St.  Michael  is  eighty  miles  from  the  northly  mouth 
of  the  Yukon ;  the  passage  up  the  river  takes  from  eigh- 
teen to  twenty  days,  and  the  round  trip  about  a  month. 
The  first  boat  does  not  arrive  at  Fort  Cudahy  and  Daw- 
son City  until  late  in  July,  and  the  river  closes  in  Sep- 
tember, so  that  the  arrival  of  the  last  boat  is  somewhat 
uncertain;  last  year  they  are  said  to  have  been  frozen  in 
at  Circle  City.  Two  round  trips  in  a  season  are  all  that 
can  be  relied  upon. 

"Many  persons  prefer  going  by  Lynn  canal,  the  Taiya 
(Dyea)  pass,  and  down  the  Yukon.  The  distance  from 
the  sea  to  Cudahy  is  only  630  miles,  and  to  Dawson  City 
a  little  over  575  miles,  and  by  starting  in  April  or  May 
the  diggings  are  reached  by  the  beginning  of  June.  The 
upper  part  of  the  river  opens  several  weeks  before  the 
lower  part  is  free  from  ice.  After  crossing  the  pass  the 
trip  to  Cudahy  can  be  accomplished  in  eight  days.  An- 
other route  is  now  being  explored  between  Telegraph 
creek  and  Teslin  lake,  and  will  soon  be  opened. 

"Telegraph  creek  is  the  head  of  steamer  navigation  on 
the  Stikine  river,  and  is  about  150  miles  from  Teslin  lake. 
The  Yukon  is  navigable  for  steamers  from  its  mouth  to 
Teslin  lake,  a  distance  of  2,300  miles.  A  road  is  being 
located  by  the  Dominion  government,  and  a  grant  of 
$2,000  has  been  made  by  the  province  of  British  Colum- 
bia for  opening  it. 

"J.  Dalton,  a  trader,  has  used  a  route  overland  from 
Chilkat  inlet  to  Fort  Selkirk,  going  up  the  Chilkat  and 


BOOK   FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  293 

Klaheela  rivers.  He  crosses  the  divide  to  the  Tahkeena 
river,  and  continues  northward  over  a  fairly  open  country 
practicable  for  horses.  The  distance  from  the  sea  to  Fort 
Selkirk  is  350  miles.  It  is  proposed  to  establish  a  winter 
road  somewhere  across  the  country  traveled  by  Dalton. 
The  Yukon  cannot  be  followed,  the  ice  being  too  much 
broken,  so  that  any  winter  road  will  have  to  be  overland. 
A  thorough  exploration  is  now  being  made  of  all  the 
passes  at  the  head  of  Lynn  canal  and  of  the  upper  waters 
of  the  Yukon.  In  a  few  months  it  is  expected  that  the 
best  routes  for  reaching  the  district  from  the  Lynn  canal 
will  be  definitely  known." 

Under  date  of  Fort  Cudahy,  September,  1896,  Mr. 
Ogilvie  writes  of  the  discovery  of  gold  on  Bonanza  creek, 
a  branch  of  the  Klondike.  He  gives  as  the  correct  name 
of  the  now  famous  stream  "Thron-Diuck,"  and  says  it  is 
marked  on  the  map  as  "Deer  river,"  and  joins  the  Yukon 
a  few  miles  above  the  site  of  Fort  Reliance.  In  this  letter 
Mr.  Ogilvie  says:  "Between  Thron-Diuck  and  Stewart 
river  a  large  creek,  called  Indian  creek,  flows  into  the 
Yukon,  and  rich  prospects  have  been  found  on  it,  and 
no  doubt  it  is  in  the  gold-bearing  country  between  Thron- 
Diuck  and  Stewart  rivers,  which  is  considered  by  all  old 
miners  the  best  and  most  extensive  gold  country  yet 
found." 

Referring  to  the  Klondike  region,  Mr.  Ogilvie  writes : 
"I  think  I  can  expend  more  in  the  interest  of  the  coun- 
try by  remaining  here  and  making  a  survey  of  the  'Klon- 
dak'  of  the  miners — a  mispronunciation  of  the  Indian 
word  or  words  'Thron-dak,'  or  'Diuck,'  which  means 
'plenty  of  fish,'  from  the  fact  that  it  is  a  famous  salmon 
stream.  It  is  marked  'Tondak'  on  our  map.  It  joins  the 
Yukon  from  the  east  a  few  miles  above  Fort  Reliance, 
about  forty  miles  from  here  (Fort  Cudahy).    As  I  have 


294  THE    CHICAGO  RECORD'S 

already  intimated,  rich  placer  mines  of  gold  were  dis- 
covered on  the  branches  of  this  stream.  The  discovery, 
I  believe,  was  due  to  the  reports  of  Indians. 

"A  white  man  named  George  W.  Carmack,  who  worked 
with  me  in  1887,  was  the  first  to  take  advantage  of  the 
rumors  and  locate  a  mine  on  the  first  branch,  which  was 
named  by  the  miners  Bonanza  creek.  Carmack  located 
late  in  August  (1896),  but  had  to  cut  some  logs  for  the 
mill  here  to  get  a  few  pounds  of  provisions  to  enable  him 
to  work  on  his  claim.  The  fishing  at  Thron-Diuck  hav- 
ing totally  failed  him,  he  returned  with,  in  a  few  weeks, 
provisions  for  himself,  his  wife  and  brother-in-law  (In- 
dians), and  another  Indian  in  the  last  days  of  August,  and 
immediately  set  about  working  his  claim. 

"The  three  men,  working  very  irregularly,  washed  out 
$1,200  in  eight  days.  On  the  same  creek  two  men  rocked 
out  about  $75  in  four  hours,  and  it  is  asserted  that  two 
men  in  the  same  creek  took  out  $4,000  in  two  days  with 
only  two  lengths  of  sluice  boxes.  This  last  is  doubted, 
but  Mr.  Leduc  assures  me  he  weighed  that  much  gold 
for  them,  but  it  is  not  positive  where  they  got  it. 

"A  branch  of  Bonanza,  named  El  Dorado,  has  pros- 
pected magnificently,  and  another  branch  named  Tilly 
has  prospected  well.  In  all  there  are  some  four  or  five 
branches  of  Bonanza  which  have  given  good  prospect. 
A  few  miles  farther  up  Bear  creek  enters  Thron-Diuck, 
and  it  has  been  prospected  and  located  on.  Compared 
with  Bonanza  it  is  small,  and  will  not  afford  more  than 
twenty  or  thirty  claims,  it  is  said.  About  twelve  miles 
above  the  mouth,  Gold-Bottom  creek  joins  Thron-Diuck, 
and  on  it  and  a  branch  named  Hunker  creek,  after  the 
discoverer,  very  rich  ground  has  been  found.  On  Gold- 
Bottom  creek  and  branches  there  will  probably  be  200 
or  300  claims.    The  Indians  have  reported  another  creek 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  295 

much  further  up,  which  they  call  'Too-Much-Gold-Creek,' 
on  which  the  gold  is  so  plentiful  that,  the  miners  say  in 
joke,  'You  have  to  mix  gravel  with  it  to  sluice  it.' 

"From  all  this  we  may,  I  think,  infer  that  we  have  here 
a  district  which  will  give  i,ooo  claims  of  five  hundred  feet 
in  length  each,  and  this  is  not  all,  for  a  large  creek  named 
Indian  creek  joins  the  Yukon  about  midway  between 
Thron-Diuck  and  Stewart  rivers,  and  all  along  this  creek 
good  pay  has  been  found.  Indian  creek  is  quite  a  large 
stream,  and  it  is  probable  it  will  yield  500  or  600  claims. 
Farther  south  yet  lies  the  head  of  several  branches  of 
Stewart  river,  on  which  some  prospecting  has  been  done 
this  summer  and  good  indications  found. 

"Now  gold  has  been  found  in  several  streams  joining 
Felly  river,  and  also  all  along  the  Hootalinqua.  In  the  line 
of  these  finds  farther  south  is  the  Cassiar  gold  fields  in 
British  Columbia;  so  the  presumption  is  that  we  have  in 
our  territory,  along  the  easterly  water-shed  of  the  Yukon, 
a  gold-bearing  belt  of  indefinite  width  and  upwards  of 
300  miles  long,  exclusive  of  the  British  Columbia  part  of 
it.  On  the  westerly  side  of  the  Yukon  prospecting  has 
been  done  on  a  creek  a  short  distance  above  Selkirk,  with 
a  fair  amount  of  success,  and  on  a  large  creek  some  30 
or  40  miles  below  Selkirk  fair  prospects  have  been  found." 

INIr.  Ogilvie  bears  testimony  to  the  richness  of  the 
Klondike  placer  mines,  under  date  of  Dec.  9,  1896,  as 
follows:  "Since  my  last  the  prospects  of  Bonanza  creek 
and  tributaries  are  increasing  in  richness  and  extent  until 
now  it  is  certain  that  millions  wall  be  taken  out  of  the 
district  within  the  next  few  years.  One  man  told  me  yes- 
terday that  he  washed  out  a  single  pan  of  dirt  on  one  of 
the  claims  on  Bonanza  and  found  $14-25  in  it.  Of  course 
that  may  be  an  exceptionally  rich  pan,  but  $5  to  $7  per 
pan  is  the  average  on  that  claim,  it  is  reported,  with  five 


296  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

feet  of  pay  dirt  and  the  width  yet  undetermined,  but 
it  was  known  to  be  thirty  feet  even  at  that;  figure  the 
resuk  at  nine  to  ten  pans  to  the  cubic  foot,  and  five 
hundred  feet  long;  nearly  v$4,ooo,ooo  at  $5  per  pan — 
one-fourth  of  this  would  be  enormous. 

"Another  claim  has  been  prospected  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  is  known  there  is  about  five  feet  pay  dirt  averaging 
$2  per  pan  and  width  not  less  than  thirty  feet.  Enough 
prospecting  has  been  done  to  show  that  there  are  at 
least  fifteen  miles  of  this  extraordinary  richness ;  and  the 
indications  are  that  we  will  have  three  or  four  times  that 
extent,  if  not  all  equal  to  the  above,  at  least  very  rich. 

"Miller  and  Glacier  creeks  on  the  head  of  Sixty  Mile 
river,  were  thought  to  be  very  rich,  but  they  are  poor, 
both  in  quality  and  quantity,  compared  with  the  Thron- 
Diuck.  Chicken  creek,  at  the  head  of  Forty  Mile  in 
Alaska,  discovered  a  year  ago,  and  rated  very  high,  is 
to-day  practically  abandoned.  Some  quartz  prospecting 
has  been  done  in  Thron-Diuck  region,  and  it  is  probable 
that  some  good  veins  will  be  found  there.  Coal  is  found 
on  the  upper  part  of  Thron-Diuck,  so  that  the  facilities 
for  working  it,  if  found,  are  good  and  convenient.  A 
quartz  lode,  showing  free  gold  in  paying  quantities,  has 
been  located  on  one  of  the  creeks,  but  I  cannot  yet  send 
particulars.  I  am  confident  from  the  nature  of  the  gold 
found  in  the  creeks  that  many  more  of  them — and  rich, 
too — will  be  found. 

^  ^  JjS  ^  5J?  ^  ^ 

"I  have  just  heard  from  a  reliable  source  that  the  quartz 
mentioned  above  is  rich,  as  tested,  over  $100  to  the  ton. 
The  lode  appears  to  run  from  three  to  eight  feet  in  thick- 
ness, and  is  about  nineteen  miles  from  the  Yukon  river. 
Placer  prospects  continue  more  and  more  encouraging 
and  extraordinary.    It  is  beyond  doubt  that  three  pa-ns 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  297 

on  different  claims  on  El  Dorado  turned  out  $204,  $212 
and  $216;  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  were 
only  three  such  pans,  though  there  are  many  running 
from  $10  to  $50  a  pan. 


298 


THE   CHICAGO  RECORD'S 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
GOLD   HISTORY  OF  ALASKA. 

OSEPH  JUNEAU  has  gone  down  in  the 
histon'  of  Alaska  as  the  first  man  to 
demonstrate  the  existence  of  gold  in  any 
considerable  quantity  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  town  which  bears  his  name.  It  was 
in  1880  that  gold  was  discovered  in  the 
vicinity  of  Juneau,  but  the  first  discovery 
of  gold  in  Southeast  Alaska  was  made 
near  Sitka  in  1873.  The  subsequent  ex- 
citement brought  miners  from  the  Cassiar  regions  in 
British  Columbia,  and  in  the  Northwest  territory  to  the 
southeastern  coast  of  Alaska,  and  prospecting  was  act- 
ively prosecuted.  The  gold  find  of  1880  transformed 
the  little  Indian  settlement  at  the  head  of  Gastineau 
channel,  where  before  a  white  man  had  rarely  been  seen, 
into  a  typical  American  mining  camp.  Prospectors  went 
back  into  the  interior  singly  and  in  parties  of  three  or 
more  and  located  many  claims. 

Richard  Harris,  a  partner  of  Juneau,  at  first  was  cred- 
ited with  the  honor  of  discovering  gold  in  that  district, 
so  the  first  mining  town  was  named  Harrisburg;  it  after- 
ward was  named  Rockwell  in  honor  of  one  of  the  officers 
of  the  United  States  steamer  Jamestown,  but  finally  the 
town  was  given  the  name  which  it  now  bears — Juneau. 
Back  of  Juneau  extends  the  deep  ravines  and  gorges 
through  which  Gold  creek  pours  its  waters,  and  many 
men  found  diggings  in  them  which  paid  them  well. 
When  the  gold  excitement  at  Juneau  was  at  its  height 


BOOK   FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  301 

it  was  reported  that  gold  had  been  found  on  top  of  a 
mountain  which  is  two  miles  across  the  bay.  A  miner 
who  went  by  the  name  of  "French  Pete"  staked  off  a 
claim  on  top  of  this  mountain.  John  Treadwell,  after 
investigating  this  location,  purchased  French  Pete's 
claim  for  $400.  He  first  built  a  5-stamp  mill,  and  the 
development  was  so  promising  that  he  was  able  to  in- 
terest capital  sufficient  to  build  a  120-stamp  mill.  Seven 
years  after  the  first  discovery  this  was  enlarged  to  240- 
stamp,  making  the  Treadwell  property  the  largest  mill  in 
the  world.  Since  then  this  immense  mill  has  been  pound- 
ing out  gold  almost  night  and  day  without  cessation. 
The  ore  is  known  as  very  low  grade,  yielding  only  about 
$1.85  in  bullion  to  the  ton  of  ore,  but  since  the  240- 
stamps  were  put  in,  the  Treadwell  mine  has  been  turning 
out  from  $70,000  to  $80,000  a  month. 

Free  gold  has  been  found  on  Prince  of  Wales  island 
and  north  on  Annette  island,  and  many  claims  have  been 
located,  the  assays  of  which  indicate  large  and  rich  de- 
posits of  the  precious  metal.  At  Sum  Dum  the  Bald 
Eagle  mining  claim  is  located,  and  a  lo-stamp  mill  is  at 
work  there.  The  ore  is  valued  at  upward  of  $100  a  ton. 
Ten  miles  from  Juneau  on  Sheep  creek  is  the  Silver 
Queen  mine,  with  a  lo-stamp  mill.  Within  a  radius  of 
four  miles  of  Juneau  there  are  nine  mills  in  operation, 
including  the  great  Treadwell  mine. 

The  four  miles  of  country  drained  by  Gold  creek  seems 
to  be  covered  by  rich  ledges  of  gold  quartz;  a  number 
of  stamp  mills  are  working  in  this  district  about  eight 
months  out  of  the  year.  In  what  is  known  as  the  "basin" 
a  large  sum  of  money  has  been  spent  in  getting  ready 
to  develop  the  placer  mines  by  the  process  of  hydraulic 
mining.  Over  the  bay  which  adjoins  the  Treadwell 
mine  is  the  Mexico  mine,  which  has  a  120-stamp  mill. 


A' 


302  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

Sixty  miles  from  Juneau  toward  Lynn  canal  is  the  Ber- 
ner's  Bay  mining  property,  and  on  the  Admiralty  island 
in  Funta  bay  is  a  group  of  rich  ledges. 

Rich  indications  of  silver  have  been  found  at  Glacier 
bay,  and  on  Willoughby  island  are  rich  galena  deposits. 
For  several  years  prospecting  has  been  carried  on  at 
Unga,  and  a  large  mill  has  been  erected  by  the  Alaska 
Commercial  company  at  that  point. 

The  gold  deposits  in  southeastern  Alaska  require  ex- 
pensive machiner}^  to  work  them,  for  the  ore  is  low  grade. 
In  this  sense  this  is  not  a  "poor  man's  country."  The 
report  of  the  governor  of  Alaska  for  the  year  ending  Oc- 
tober I,  1896,  shows  that  $2,300,000  in  gold  bullion  was 
taken  from  the  gold  mines  within  the  territory  of  Alaska 
during  the  year  ending  October  i,  1896.  The  greater 
part  of  this  amount  was  the  product  of  low  grade  ores, 
much  of  which  yielded  less  than  $4.00  per  ton.  The 
average  cost  of  mining  and  milling  the  quartz  rock  at 
the  Alaska-Treadwell  gold  mining  company's  mines  on 
Douglas  island  in  1896  was  $1.25  a  ton. 

In  1 88 1  gold  was  first  discovered  in  paying  quantities 
in  the  Yukon  basin.  A  party  of  four  miners  after  crossing 
the  range  descended  the  Lewes  river  as  far  as  the  Big 
Salmon,  which  they  explored,  prospecting  all  the  way, 
for  a  distance  of  200  miles.  They  found  gold  on  all  the 
bars  of  the  Big  Salmon.  The  next  three  or  four  years 
the  Pelly  and  Hootalinqua  rivers  were  prospected,  and 
in  1886  the  gold  finds  at  Cassiar  bar  on  the  Stewart  river 
w^ere  made. 

Geographers  divide  the  Yukon  section  into  three  prin- 
cipal divisions.  The  upper  division  lies  entirely  within 
British  territory  and  embraces  the  White,  Stewart, 
Pelly,  Lewes  and  Hootalinqua  rivers,  which,  with  their 
several  branches  and  tributaries,  form  the  head  waters 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  303 

of  the  Yukon;  the  middle  division  includes  the  Yukon 
between  Fort  Reliance  and  the  mouth  of  the  Tanana 
river;  the  lower  division  the  Yukon  from  the  Tanana  to 
Norton  sound  and  Bering  sea. 

Before  the  Klondike  discovery  the  most  important 
placer  mines  were  located  in  the  middle  division  of  the 
Yukon  district;  on  Forty  Mile,  Sixty  Mile,  JXIiller,  Gla- 
cier and  Birch  creek  and  Koyukuk  river.  The  Forty 
Mile  and  Sixty  Mile  creeks  have  their  source  in  the 
Ratzel  mountain,  flowing  into  the  Yukon  from  the  west. 
The  streams  which  flow  into  the  Tanana,  which  start 
from  the  other  side  of  the  Ratzel  mountains,  have  not 
been  thoroughly  explored,  but  gold  in  paying  quantities 
has  been  found  along  the  banks  of  the  Tanana,  and  some 
of  the  bars  have  been  worked  with  profit.  One  of  the 
richest  of  the  gold-bearing  creeks  so  far  discovered  in 
this  middle  division  is  Miller  creek,  a  tributary  of  Sixty 
Mile  creek.  Glacier  creek,  another  branch  of  Sixty  Mile 
creek,  is  also  rich  in  gold.  This  middle  division  is  the 
"poor  man's"  mining  territory,  for  the  mines  are  placer 
mines. 

Rich  gold  discoveries  have  been  reported  from  Indian 
creek,  which  flows  into  the  Yukon  30  miles  below  Sixty 
Mile  creek.  Forty  Mile  creek  was  not  discovered  until 
1887.  It  enters  the  Yukon  from  the  west,  drains  the 
country  lying  between  the  Yukon  and  Tanana  river,  is 
about  200  miles  long,  and  its  tributaries  are  numerous. 
The  mouth  of  this  creek  is  in  Canadian  territory. 

On  Forty  Mile  nearly  all  the  available  rich  ground 
has  been  worked  out,  but  on  the  banks  of  the  stream 
are  many  high  bars,  which  are  known  to  be  rich,  but 
which  have  not  been  worked  because  of  the  difHculty  in 
getting  water  through  them.    The  find  of  gold  on  Forty 


304  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

Mile  caused  a  great  sensation,  and  tHe  next  gold  craze 
was  caused  by  strikes  on  Birch  creek. 

One  of  the  main  tributaries  to  Birch  creek  is  Crooked 
creek,  and  from  Circle  City,  which  is  eight  miles  across 
the  portage  from  Birch  creek  to  the  Yukon,  a  trail  leads 
over  the  hills  to  the  mines  on  Independence  and  Masto- 
don creeks.  Gold  was  discovered  on  the  Molymute,  a 
branch  of  Birch  creek,  in  1893.  In  this  same  year  rich 
gold  discoveries  were  made  on  the  Koyukuk  river,  and 
a  number  of  creeks,  such  as  North  Fork,  Wild  creek, 
South  Fork  and  Fish  creek,  have  been  prospected  with 
good  success,  although  no  extensive  deposits  have  been 
found.  Below  the  Koyukuk  river  the  only  streams  of 
any  size  that  empty  into  the  Yukon  are  the  Innoko  and 
the  Anvik,  but  little  prospecting  has  been  done,  however, 
below  Koyukuk  river.  Almost  all  of  these  placer  mines 
have  been  practically  abandoned  since  the  remarkably 
rich  finds  of  gold  in  the  Klondike  district  in  August, 
1896. 

An  old  prospector  who  has  been  in  the  Alaska  Yukon 
district  for  a  number  of  years  said  that  there  is  enough 
undeveloped  gold-bearing  country  in  that  district  to  take 
care  of  100,000  miners,  not  one  of  whom  would  be  within 
neighborhood  distance  of  another,  and  it  was  all  "tender- 
foot" land. 

History  repeats  itself  in  the  Klondike  discovery  and 
the  excitement  caused  by  it.  It  is  about  forty  years  since 
any  excitement  equal  to  that  caused  by  the  Klondike 
find  has  swept  over  the  country.  The  older  residents 
of  the  Pacific  coast  passed  through  a  number  of  mining 
excitements  since  the  days  of  '49,  when  the  rush  to  Cali- 
fornia followed  the  discovery  of  gold  in  that  then  almost 
unknown  and  sparsely  inhabited  country.  For  ten  years 
after  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  a  succession  of 


BOOK    FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  805 

mining  crazes  passed  over  the  country,  until  the  country 
from  the  Mexico  hne  to  Alaska  had  been  explored  and 
found  to  contain  rich  mines. 

The  first  rush  was  to  the  valleys  of  the  Klamath,  the 
Columbia  and  the  Frazer,  and  finally,  the  Cariboo,  Peace 
river  and  Stikeen  were  invaded  and  proved  more  or 
less  rich.  Thousands  flocked  to  these  streams,  a  few 
made  fortunes  and  the  many,  after  enduring  hardships 
and  sufferings,  returned  poor,  naked  and  hungry.  The 
swarms  that  invaded  CaHfomia  in  1849  flowed  over  into 
Oregon.  Rich  diggings  were  discovered  around  Jack- 
sonville, and  the  miners  pushed  their  way  up  the  Colum- 
bia into  Idaho  and  Montana,  the  only  route  to  those 
regions  being  the  valley  of  the  Columbia.  Rich  mines 
were  found  at  Salmon  river,  Oro  Fino  and  many  other 
places,  and  in  the  Bitter  Root  mountains  and  farther  on 
in  Montana. 

These  were  the  days  when  the  Oregon  Steam  Naviga- 
tion company  was  formed,  and  Ladd,  Reed,  Ainsworth, 
Thompson,  Kamm  and  others  laid  the  foundations  of 
their  fortunes.  Then  in  1856  and  the  years  following 
came  the  Frazer  river  excitement,  which  brought  riches 
to  some  and  disaster  to  many.  People  went  wild  all 
over  the  coast,  and  flocked  in  crowds  to  Victoria,  then 
principally  a  fort  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company. 

Most  of  them  had  but  little  idea  where  the  Frazer 
river  was  or  how  they  were  to  get  there.  There  were 
no  steamers  running  on  the  Frazer,  nor  any  for  some 
time  from  Victoria  to  the  Frazer.  All  the  boats,  canoes 
and  dugouts  available  could  only  take  a  few  of  the  people 
who  wanted  to  go,  and  they  collected  in  camp  at  Victoria 
till  there  were,  it  is  said,  20,000  people  there  to  celebrate 
the  Fourth  of  July  in  1858,  or  thereabouts. 

Deposits  of  gold  were  fonud  along  the  Frazer  from  fifty 


306  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

miles  above  the  mouth  to  the  Rocky  mountains,  some 
600  miles,  and  at  places  diggings  as  rich  as  those  re- 
ported at  Klondike  were  found — as  at  Cariboo,  Antler 
creek  and  many  other  places.  Later  there  were  rushes 
to  Ominica,  Peace  river  and  many  other  districts.  Prob- 
ably about  the  last  great  rush,  and  one  of  the  most  disas- 
trous of  all,  was  to  the  Stikeen  river,  sometime  about 
1875.  Hundreds  begged  their  way  home  from  Stikeen, 
barefooted,  hungry  and  ragged. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  307 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  HUDSON'S  BAY  COMPANY. 

P  HUDSON'S  BAY  COMPANY,  organ- 
ized for  the  purpose  of  turning  into  old- 
world  gold  the  peltry  treasures  of  the 
new  world,  dates  its  history  from  the 
year  1668.  Under  the  direction  of 
Prince  Rupert,  Count  Palatine  of  the 
Rhine,  an  experimental  trip  had  been 
made  into  the  wilds  of  British  Amer- 
ica, and  in  the  year  named  the  prince,  with  seventeen 
other  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  formed  an  association  to 
develop  the  new  land.  Two  years  later  King  Charles 
H.  granted  the  association  corporate  powers  under  a 
charter  which  styled  the  prince  and  his  fellows  the  "Gov- 
ernor and  Company  of  Adventurers  of  England  Trading 
Into  Hudson's  Bay."  By  the  terms  of  this  instrument 
one  of  the  greatest  monopolies  of  history  was  created — 
one,  indeed,  of  the  latent  possibilities  of  which  its  pro- 
moters scarcely  dreamed. 

This  charter  of  1670,  in  the  nominal  consideration  of 
the  annual  payment  of  two  black  beavers  and  two  elks, 
granted  the  company  of  gentlemen  adventurers  "the 
sole  trade  and  commerce  of  all  those  seas,  straits,  bays, 
rivers,  lakes,  creeks  and  sounds,  in  whatsoever  latitude 
they  shall  be,  that  lie  within  the  entrance  of  the  straits 
commonly  called  Hudson  straits,  together  with  all  the 
lands  and  territories  upon  the  countries,  coasts  and  con- 
fines of  the  seas,  bays,  etc.,  aforesaid,  that  are  not  already 
actually  possessed  by  or  granted  to  any  of  our  subjects. 


308  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

or  possessed  by  the  subjects  of  any  other  Christian  prince 
or  state." 

The  vagueness  of  this  patent  was  reUeved  somewhat 
later  on,  when  the  company,  with  much  unwilHngness, 
agreed  to  accept  the  grant  as  conveying  control  only 
of  all  lands  watered  by  streams  flowing  into  Hudson 
Bay.  Along  with  the  right  to  trade  throughout  the  vast 
territory  that  was  the  subject  of  royal  patent  went  abso- 
lute lordship  and  entire  legislative,  judicial  and  execu- 
tive power.  Nor  was  this  "right  to  trade"  less  absolute 
than  the  civil  authority  that  went  with  it,  as  is  witnessed 
by  the  letter  of  the  charter.  By  its  terms  the  company 
received  the  right  to  "the  whole  and  entire  trade  and 
traffic  to  and  from  all  havens,  bays,  creeks,  rivers,  lakes, 
and  seas,  into  which  they  shall  find  entrance  or  passage 
by  water  or  land  out  of  the  territories  limits  or  places 
aforesaid." 

The  company's  first  post  was  established  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  flowing  into  James  bay  at  its  extreme  south. 
It  was  known  as  Moose  Factory.  Not  long  afterward 
settlements  were  established  at  Forts  Albany,  Churchill 
and  York,  commanding  the  whole  western  shore  of  the 
great  bay.  Year  by  year  the  strength  and  prosperity 
of  the  company  grew  greater,  although,  after  obtaining  a 
firm  footing  on  the  shore  of  Hudson  Bay  the  corpora- 
tion, contrary  to  what  might  have  been  expected,  did  not 
seek  immediately  to  penetrate  into  the  immense  terri- 
tory to  the  west  and  south.  So  slow,  indeed,  were  the 
managers  to  push  the  development  of  its  territory  that  in 
1749  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  in  the  British 
parliament  to  annul  the  company's  charter  on  the  ground 
of  "non-use;"  for  there  were  only  about  120  regular  em- 
ployes and  some  four  or  five  forts  on  the  coast. 

From  its  first  organization  the  Hudson's  Bay  company 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  311 

met  opposition  at  the  hands  of  the  French,  In  1627  a 
French  company  had  been  organized  under  a  charter 
conferred  by  Louis  XIII.  The  terms  of  the  French  char- 
ter were  almost  identical  with  those  under  which  the 
English  company  operated,  and  in  the  inevitable  rivalry 
between  the  two  corporations  there  was  destined  to  be  no 
lack  of  bloodshed.  The  losses  suffered  by  the  English 
company  were  not  alone  commercial,  due  to  competition; 
the  French  sent  numerous  military  expeditions  against  its 
forts,  and  losses  suffered  on  this  account  amounted  up 
to  the  year  1700  to  £215,514. 

The  successors  of  the  French  in  making  trade  uncom- 
fortable for  the  British  company  were  large  numbers  of 
fur  traders  wdio  spread  over  Canada  after  the  cession  of 
that  territory  to  Great  Britain,  and  who  finally  encroached 
on  the  lands  of  the  Hudson  Bay  corporation.  The  his- 
tory of  the  company  from  this  time  on  was  one  of  romance 
and  tragedy.  The  rivals  for  trade  employed  every  artifice 
for  outwitting  one  another,  and  the  liquor  which  they  in- 
troduced among  the  Indians  for  the  furthering  of  their 
ends  wrought  the  demoralization  of  the  savages.  Back- 
ers of  the  company  in  England  became  alarmed  at  its  fail- 
ure to  realize  their  expectations.  The  independent  trad- 
ers were  outwitting  the  company's  factors  at  their  own 
game.  The  managers  in  England  were  anxious  to  have 
the  American  agents  push  inland,  but  the  latter  were 
afraid  to  venture  into  a  region  of  unknown  perils;  so  it 
happened  that  it  was  more  than  100  years  before  the 
company's  agents  penetrated  the  Red  river  region,  which 
later  on  became  the  center  of  their  activity.  The  inde- 
pendent traders,  on  the  other  hand,  sent  their  agents  year 
by  year  from  Montreal  up  the  Ottawa  and  on  by  boat 
and  by  portage  through  Lake  Nipissing,  Lake  Huron, 
Lake  Superior,  Rain  lake  and  Lake  of  the  Woods,  and 
16 


312  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

down  Winnipeg  river  and  lake  to  the  base  of  the  Rocky 
mountains. 

These  traders  ingratiated  themselves  with  the  natives 
and  as  a  result  secured  the  best  of  the  furs  which  the 
Indians  had  to  offer,  while  the  Hudson's  Bay  company 
was  dealing  mainly  in  otter  apd  beaver  skins,  and  those 
of  an  inferior  quality.  In  1783  the  independent  fur  trad- 
ers combined  under  the  style  of  the  North-West  company 
of  Montreal.  In  its  service  about  5,000  men  were  em- 
ployed, and  although  the  fierce  competition  that  imme- 
diately broke  out  impaired  the  revenues  of  the  British 
company  for  a  time,  yet  from  the  springing  up  of  opposi- 
tion date  the  intelligent  management  and  the  larger  suc- 
cess of  the  company.  Under  stress  of  new  difficulties  the 
affairs  at  the  posts  on  Hudson  Bay  were  managed 
with  greater  prudence  and  its  traders  in  the  interior  oper- 
ated with  more  discretion.  The  traders  of  the  North- 
West  company  had  scaled  the  Rocky  mountains  and  were 
bartering  with  the  Indians  along  Peace  river.  Traders 
of  the  British  company  followed.  The  North-West  com- 
pany built  forts.  The  Hudson's  Bay  company  built  forts 
to  match  them  or  excel  them.  Fraud  met  fraud,  artifice 
artifice,  and  when  one  struck  a  blow  the  other  never  was 
known  to  turn  the  other  cheek. 

About  the  time  the  rivalry  was  at  its  most  intense  pitch. 
Lord  Selkirk,  a  Scotch  peer,  obtained,  in  181 1,  a  grant 
from  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  in  what  then  was  known 
as  the  district  of  Ossiniboia.  With  a  view  to  providing 
homes  for  the  suq^lus  population  of  the  Scottish  high- 
lands, his  agent,  Miles  Macdonell,  in  1813,  planted  a  set- 
tlement on  the  banks  of  the  Red  river.  Fort  Daer  at 
Pembina  was  the  first  fortification.  In  one  year's  time 
the  colonists  numbered  200.  But  the  North-West  com- 
pany wanted  those  fertile  plains  along  the  Red  river  for 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  313 

itself.  It  desired  them  preserved  as  hunting  grounds,  and 
consequently  its  agents  began  a  systematic  campaign  of 
intimidation,  which  sometimes  did  not  stop  short  of  actual 
violence,  with  the  hope  of  driving  out  the  unwelcome 
settlers.  As  the  Scotch  colonization  scheme  prospered, 
its  promoters  building  forts  and  extending  their  com- 
mercial operations,  the  opposition  and,  indeed,  the  des- 
peration of  the  North-West  company  grevv^  more  intense. 
The  French-Indian  half-breeds  were  inflamed  to  commit 
depredations  on  the  property  of  the  Highlanders  and 
their  homes  and  mills  and  store-houses  were  burned. 
The  Earl  of  Selkirk  hastened  to  the  rescue,  reorganized 
the  community  and  addressed  himself  to  the  task  of 
strengthening  the  colonists'  means  of  defense  and  offense. 
In  this  he  was  successful  and  the  colony  remained  in  the 
control  of  his  family  until  1835,  when  his  claims  over  a 
territory  colonized  by  not  less  than  5,000  souls  were 
transferred  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  company. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  time  of  the  fifth  earl  of  Sel- 
kirk, the  competition  that  was  aimed  at  him  reached  its 
climax  in  1816  in  a  battle  in  front  of  Fort  Garry,  the 
Hudson's  Bay  company's  chief  post  in  the  Red  river 
region.  In  this  conflict  twenty  men,  including  several 
officers  and  Governor  Semple  himself,  lost  their  lives. 
This  was  not  the  end  of  the  fighting,  but  the  fighting 
proved  the  death  of  trade,  and  not  until  the  business  of 
both  the  rival  companies  was  entirely  destroyed,  so  far 
as  profit  was  concerned,  did  the  officers  of  each  awake 
to  the  folly  of  such  a  course.  Then,  in  the  year  1821, 
under  act  of  parliament  a  coalition  was  effected.  The 
North-West  company  ceased  to  exist  and  thenceforth  the 
Hudson's  Bay  company  possessed  the  vast  field  without 
rival.  Not  long  after  the  coalition  George  Simpson,  a 
young  Scotchma,n  of  great  ability,  was  given  control  in 


314  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

North  America  with  the  title  of  governor-in-chief  of 
Rupert's  land.  For  forty  years  he  managed  the  affairs  of 
the  consolidated  companies,  winning  wealth  and  honor. 
Under  his  government  the  company  prospered,  until,  in 
i860,  it  was  operating  155  establishments  with  twenty- 
five  chief  factors  in  charge  and  employing  twenty-eight 
chief  traders,  152  clerks  and  1,200  other  employes,  be- 
sides many  thousand  Indians. 

In  1869,  at  the  demand  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada, 
the  company  surrendered  its  monopoly  of  the  northwest 
in  consideration  of  the  payment  of  £300,000  sterling,  and 
the  transfer  to  it  of  one-twentieth  of  the  land  within  the 
fertile  belt,  besides  50,000  acres  immediately  surrounding 
its  posts.  Thus  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  surrendered 
its  monopoly  to  begin  its  latter  day  career  as  an  immense 
commercial  corporation. 

In  all  the  vast  territory  the  fur  trade  of  which  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  there  are  only 
a  few  real  forts.  These  are  surrounded  with  stone  walls, 
and  are  veritable  strongholds.  All  the  rest  of  the  posts 
to  which  the  name  of  fort  has  been  given  are  merely  trad- 
ing stations,  fortified  to  an  extent,  it  is  true,  but  only  so 
much  as  the  wildness  of  the  country  makes  absolutely 
necessary.  At  these  trading  stations  all  exchange  is  by 
barter.  Skins  are  the  standard  of  value,  the  beaver  skin 
being  the  unit.  In  trade  with  the  Indians  the  officers 
of  the  company  have  never  made  any  pretense  of  giving 
the  actual  value  of  the  more  valuable  skins.  It  is  pre- 
sumed that  they  have  satisfied  their  consciences  with  the 
excuse  that  to  pay  more  for  a  valuable  skin  than  for  a 
cheap  one  would  lead  to  the  speedy  extinction  of  the  rarer 
fur-bearing  animals,  since  the  Indians  would  trap  the 
valuable  to  the  neglect  of  the  more  plentiful.  It  is  not  on 
record,  however,  that    the    company  ever  has  "evened 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SESKERS.  315 

things  up"  by  paying  the  simple  savage  more  than  the 
vakie  of  the  cheap  skins. 

Methods  of  trade  in  the  northern  and  southern  portions 
of  the  Hudson  bay  region  are  radically  different.  The 
Indians  of  the  north  are  a  race  of  solitary  trappers,  while 
those  of  the  south  go  in  bands  and  hunt  and  make  the 
rounds  of  their  traps  on  horseback.  The  finer  furs  come 
from  the  former;  the  coarser  furs,  the  buffalo  hides  and 
the  leather  from  the  Indians  of  the  south,  whose  homes 
are  along  the  Saskatchewan.  The  Indians  of  the  north- 
ern district  are  practically  in  a  state  of  peonage  to  the 
Hudson's  Bay  company.  Throughout  the  spring  and 
summer  the  company  makes  advances  to  the  Indians  of 
such  supplies  as  they  need  for  their  sustenance,  these  to 
be  paid  for  at  the  end  of  the  hunting  season.  Being  con- 
stantly in  debt  they  are  constantly  dependent,  but  what- 
ever may  be  said  against  the  system,  it  is  none  the  less 
true  that  the  company's  rule  is  as  paternal  as  it  is  auto- 
cratic. In  the  case  of  the  southern  Indians,  however,  that 
sort  of  transaction  will  not  serve.  Those  who  live  in  the 
saddle  are  not  easily  kept  in  subjection;  consequently 
trade  with  these  natives  has  more  of  the  character  of  com- 
merce among  equals,  and  so  unfeigned  is  the  respect  in 
which  the  company's  agents  hold  these  Indians  that  in  the 
course  of  trade  many  gifts  are  employed  to  keep  the  red 
men  in  good  humor,  whilst  stout  stockades  and  firearms 
in  reserve  are  provided  against  a  possible  day  of  bad 
humor. 

The  supreme  authority  in  the  resident  government  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  company  is  the  governor's  council, 
when  it  is  in  session.  Apart  from  the  two  or  three  days  in 
each  year  when  this  council  is  sitting  the  governor  is 
supreme,  and  that  functionary,  whose  ofhcial  title  is  gov- 
ernor of  Rupert's  land,  holds  his  authority  ivoxn  the  offi- 


316  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

cers  resident  in  London.  These  are  a  governor,  a  deputy 
governor  and  a  committee  of  five  directors,  all  subject  to 
annual  election  by  the  voice  of  the  stockholders  at  a  gen- 
eral meeting  in  November. 

The  commercial  organization  of  the  company  is  some- 
what complicated.  Resident  in  the  localities  where  the 
transactions  with  the  Indians  are  carried  on  are  members 
of  what  is  known  as  the  "Fur  Trade."  The  members  of 
the  Fur  Trade  are  divided  into  two  classes,  chief  factors 
and  chief  traders,  who  individually  are  entitled  to  attend 
the  annual  meetings  of  the  governor's  council.  The  ser- 
vice of  the  members  of  the  Fur  Trade  is  rendered  to  the 
company  on  a  thoroughly  profit-sharing  basis.  Their 
aggregate  interest  in  the  company  is  comprised  in  a  cer- 
tain definite  number  of  shares,  of  which  a  chief  factor  is 
given  two  shares  and  a  chief  trader  one.  Thus  fluctua- 
tions in  profits  produce  fluctuations  in  income.  Vacancies 
in  the  Fur  Trade  are  filled  by  election,  the  chief  factors 
by  a  majority  vote  electing  new  members  to  their  body 
from  among  the  chief  traders,  while  the  chief  traders  are 
drawn  from  the  ranks  of  the  salaried  clerks.  The  salaried 
clerks  in  their  turn  are  recruited  from  importations  from 
Great  Britain  and  the  older  portions  oi  the  Dominion,  as 
well  as  from  among  the  laborers  employed  about  the  trad- 
ing posts,  though  these  latter  rarely  rise  higher. 

It  is  difficult  for  one  acquainted  only  with  thickly  popu- 
lated regions  to  realize  over  what  a  vast  territory  the 
operations  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  reach.  From 
the  Red  river  region  to  Great  Slave  lake  the  company  has 
its  voyageurs  plying  their  canoes  over  i,ooo  miles  of  lakes 
and  rivers.  The  Mackenzie  river  carries  them  500  miles 
farther  to  the  Arctic  ocean.  Between  Moose  Fort  and 
the  trading  posts  of  British  Columbia  is  2,000  miles  of 
forest  and  stream,  with  subject  Indians  and  shrewd  trad- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  317 

ers  all  along  the  line,  only  fewer  in  number  than  the  ani- 
mals in  whose  pelts  they  trade.  Between  the  company's 
posts  at  Fort  Simpson  and  Sault  Ste.  Marie  intervenes  a 
space  of  2,500  miles,  and  all  this  territory  is  managed 
from  one  central  oftice  and  tributary  to  one  corporation 
of  stockholders. 

The  company's  original  chartered  territory,  together 
with  the  immense  region  into  which  its  influence  extends, 
is  divided  into  four  departments.  These  departments  or 
sections  are  known  as  the  Montreal,  the  Northern,  West- 
ern and  Southern.  The  Northern  department  lies  be- 
tween Hudson  bay  and  the  Rocky  mountains.  The  Mon- 
treal department  embraces  all  of  Canada.  The  Western  de- 
partment includes  all  to  the  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains., 
while  the  Southern  comprises  the  territory  between  James 
bay  and  Canada  and  also  includes  East  Main  on  the  east- 
ern shore  of  Hudson  bay.  In  these  four  departments 
there  are  fifty-three  subdivisions,  known  as  districts,  and 
each  district  has  a  fortified  supply  house  and  a  superin- 
tendent. To  this  depot  the  necessary  supplies  for  the  dis- 
trict are  issued  and  it  constitutes  also  the  collecting  sta- 
tion from  which  the  furs  and  other  produce  of  the  dis- 
trict are  shipped  to  the  home  warehouses  in  England.  In 
these  districts  there  are  innumerable  smaller  establish- 
ments, all  tributary  to  the  main  district  supply  house.  In 
each  fort  or  post  there  are  from  two  to  fifty  servants  of 
various  sorts,  besides  an  officer  in  general  charge.  The 
rivers  and  minor  streams  navigable  only  for  canoes,  which 
ramify  throughout  the  Northwest  territory  teem  with 
company  employes,  known  as  voyageurs,  who  constitute 
the  last  and  indispensable  link  in  the  chain  that  connects 
the  Indian  trappers  with  the  civilized  customer  for  his 
wares. 


318  THE  CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

CHAPTER  XX. 
ELI  GAGE'S  YUKON  JOURNEY. 

NE  OF  THE  first  persons  to  bring  relia-- 
ble,  authentic  news  of  the  rich  gold 
finds  on  the  Klondike  was  Eli  A.  Gage, 
son  of  Lyman  J.  Gage,  secretary  of  the 
treasury.  Eli  Gage  is  an  officer  of  the 
North  American  Transportation  and 
Trading  company,  which  operates  on 
the  Yukon  river.  In  August,  1896,  he 
left  Seattle,  bound  for  Circle  City.  At  that  time  the  "out- 
side" world  was  ignorant  of  the  wonderful  deposits  of 
gold  in  the  Klondike  district.  Circle  City,  Forty  Mile, 
and  the  Birch  creek  district  were  the  centers  of  attraction 
for  Yukon  gold-seekers  then.  Mr.  Gage  returned  home 
in  the  spring  of  1897,  and  soon  after  wrote  a  series  of 
three  articles  for  the  CHICAGO  RECORD,  which  con- 
tain so  much  that  is  of  interest  and  value  relating  to  the 
Klondike  and  Yukon  districts  that  they  are  reprinted,  in 
a  condensed  form,  in  this  book.  Following  is  Mr.  Gage's 
story  of  the  Klondike: 

"What  it  was  that  made  the  United  States  pay  over  to 
Russia  some  $7,200,000  for  Alaska  some  years  ago  might 
be  a  hard  question  to  answer  now,  for  at  the  time  of  the 
purchase  hardly  anything  but  contiguity  to  the  United 
States,  it  would  have  seemed,  could  have  made  such  a 
country  valuable  to  us.  Recently,  however,  the  atten- 
tion of  the  people  has  been  drawn  more  and  more  to  'our 
Arctic  province,'  and  each  year  has  seen  an  increasing 
number  of  prospectors  make  their  way  into  this  country. 


/'?<^/MeD'^ 


>-w 


.STKAMI!(.)AT    OX    TlIK    VL'KOX. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  321 

until  now  the  papers  are  full  of  glowing  accounts  of  the 
richness  of  the  Yukon  country,  and  there  is  every  indica- 
tion that  this  year  there  will  be  almost  a  stampede  of 
miners  for  what  promises  to  be  a  new  El  Dorado.  Last 
August  the  writer  left  Seattle  for  St.  Michael  island,  the 
place  of  embarkment  for  the  Yukon  river  boats.  The  trip 
along  the  Pacific  through  the  Unemak  pass  and  into 
Bering  sea  was  made  upon  a  boat  chartered  by  one  of  the 
trading  companies,  and  heavily  loaded  with  food,  cloth- 
ing and  tools,  all  of  which  was  bound  for  the  mines. 

"At  St.  Michael,  the  first  stop  we  made,  our  freight  was 
transferred  to  the  river  boats,  and  we  made  the  start  for 
the  Yukon  mines.  St.  Michael  island  is  about  sixty  miles 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon,  in  Norton  sound,  and  one 
of  the  most  forsaken  places  in  the  world.  The  trip  out 
into  the  sound  for  the  river  boats — which  are  of  the  stern- 
wheel,  Mississippi  kind — is  attended  with  much  danger 
from  squalls,  and  it  was  with  much  relief  that  we  went 
smoothly  over  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  river. 

"Steaming  up  the  river,  which  has  much  the  consist- 
ency of  the  Missouri  and  is  about  as  crooked,  we  stopped 
occasionally  for  wood,  which  the  natives  had  cut,  split 
and  piled,  and  for  which  they  were  paid  in  flour,  tobacco 
and  calico.  We  passed  any  number  of  Indian  villages 
and  missions,  and  finally  reached  Fort  Yukon,  the  first 
place  of  importance.  This  is  a  post  owned  by  a  trading 
company,  and  is  supposed  to  be  exactly  on  the  Arctic 
circle.  From  here  to  Circle  City  is  eighty  miles.  When 
we  got  there  it  was  already  cold,  and,  though  only  Octo- 
ber I,  we  had  had  several  snowstorms  and  there  was 
an  inch  of  snow  on  the  ground. 

"As  we  drew  near  we  could  see  that  the  whole  town 
was  coming  to  the  landing  place  to  welcome  us,  for  a 
steamboat  arrival  at  a  town  in  the  Yukon  generally 


322  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

wakes  up  every  man,  woman,  child  and  dog,  and  brings 
all  to  the  river.  At  Circle  City  the  boat  was  unloaded  into 
the  company's  store,  and  it  tried  the  next  day  to  push 
on  250  miles  further  to  the  other  post,  but  the  running 
ice  gave  warning  that  the  river  would  soon  close,  so  we 
turned  back  and  went  into  winter  quarters  in  a  slough 
at  Circle  City. 

"Circle  City  has  a  population  roughly  estimated  at 
1,000;,  which  includes  the  miners  at  Birch  creek,  about 
fifty  miles  from  the  town.  These  men  come  from  all  parts 
of  the  country,  and  they  comprise  the  same  cosmopolitan 
crowd  that  usually  makes  up  a  mining  town.  It  being 
winter,  the  town  was  pretty  well  filled  with  miners,  many 
of  whom  had  come  in  to  get  their  winter's  supplies  of 
food  at  the  stores.  At  such  a  time  the  stores  take  on 
great  activity,  every  one  wishing  to  get  fitted  out  and  to 
get  fitted  quickly.  Between  those  with  money  and  those 
who  were  besieging  the  managers  hourly  for  an  outfit  on 
credit  until  the  following  fall  the  cash  buyers  were  the 
more  patient. 

"jMuch  has  been  written  about  the  exorbitant  prices 
asked  for  food,  but  when  one  is  told  that  the  writer  has 
seen  many  outfits  put  up  to  last  for  a  year,  and  that  there 
were  many  more  outfits  of  such  kind  that  cost  from  $350 
to  $500  than  there  were  at  a  higher  figure  it  will  be  seen 
readily  that  living  is  not  much  over  $1  to  $1.50  per  day. 
Prices  are  high  as  they  appear  to  us  at  home,  but  when 
one  can  get  $1  an  hour  at  the  mines,  it  doesn't  take  long 
to  insure  enough  food  to  live  on. 

"With  the  usual  exaggerated  ideas  of  a  'tenderfoot,' 
I  expected  to  see  men  going  around  with  two  big  guns 
and  a  knife  strapped  on  their  belts,  and  was  prepared  to 
dance  when  invited  at  the  point  of  a  gun.  Nothing  of 
the  kind  happened,  however,  and  acquaintance  with  my 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  323 

neighbors  demonstrated  that  such  'doings'  were  not  tol- 
erated. A  'bad  man'  or  a  'gun  fighter'  has  no  cliancc 
here.  When  such  a  one  arrives  and  shows  his  prochvi- 
ties  he  is  warned  to  quit,  and  a  second  such  evidence 
generally  finds  him  very  shortly — if  he  is  lucky — in  an 
open  boat  in  the  river.  If  he  is  unlucky — that  is,  if  there 
are  no  boats — he  will  be  likely  to  take  passage  on  a  log 
bound  down  stream,  with  emphatic  instructions  to  'move 
on  and  keep  away  from  here.' 

"As  winter  settles  down  and  the  snow  becomes  deep 
enough  for  good  sledding,  many  miners  start  out  for  the 
'diggings,'  where  the  more  thrifty  put  in  the  Vtinter  'drift- 
ing' and  'burning,'  when  the  conditions  of  the  ground 
permit.  l^.Iany,  hov/ever,  remain  in  town,  preferring 
the  congenial  air  and  the  companionship  of  the  saloon 
and  dance  house  to  the  isolation  of  the  mines. 

"The  saloons  and  the  two  stores  are  the  only  places 
to  go.  Whenever  one  is  looking  for  a  friend  and  he  is 
not  in  his  cabin  he  is  pretty  sure  to  find  him  in  a  saloon, 
if  he  cares  to  track  him  to  his  lair.  Here  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  colony  congregate  and  play  cards,  tell  yarns 
and  occasionally  get  drunk.  In  the  evening  the  dance 
houses  open  and  the  faro  box  is  produced,  and  a  man 
has  his  choice  of  dancing  or  'bucking  the  tiger'  to  vary 
the  monotony.  In  this  way  the  miner  in  town  gets  his 
relaxation. 

"Among  these  miners  one  must  make  his  life  as  pleas- 
ant as  possible.  They  come  from  everyv/here,  and  the 
college  man  is  no  better  there  than  the  son  of  a  day 
laborer.  All  are  there  to  better  their  financial  condition 
by  the  hardest  manual  labor,  and  here,  if  anywhere,  true 
equality  seems  to  exist.  Almost  all  are  well  behaved. 
Occasionally  a  fight  is  started,  but  as  the  weapons  are  fists 
little  damage  is  done. 


324  THE    CHICAGO    RECORDS 

"Law  is  enforced  by  what  are  known  as  'miners'  meet- 
ings.' On  the  American  side  there  is  no  authority  except 
that  of  the  miners  themselves,  and  through  these  meet- 
ings justice  is  dealt  out.  A  man  having  a  dispute  with 
another  involving  money  or  land  posts  in  conspicuous 
places  a  notice  that  there  will  be  a  meeting  at  a  given 
hour  and  place  to  settle  a  dispute  between  him  and  an- 
other, whose  name  is  posted.  At  the  appointed  hour 
nearly  every  one  crowds  into  the  meeting,  a  chairman 
and  secretary  are  appointed  and  the  assembly  is  called  to 
order. 

"The  chairman  calls  upon  the  plaintiff  to  state  his  case, 
and  when  this  is  done  the  defendant  is  heard  from.  When 
the  principals  have  testified  witnesses  are  heard  from, 
and  this  evidence  is  heard  and  digested  by  the  audience. 
Questions  are  asked  by  any  one  who  cares  to  do  this,  and 
then  motions  are  in  order.  Any  one  can  make  a  motion 
for  the  disposal  of  the  case,  which,  when  seconded,  is  put 
to  a  vote,  and  in  this  way  the  matter  is  adjusted.  A  com- 
mittee is  appointed  to  see  that  the  verdict  is  carried  out, 
which  generally  is  done.  This  seems  to  be  the  only  way 
in  which  justice  can  be  dealt  out.  The  system  seems  to 
have  had  its  origin  in  a  manly  desire  to  give  every  one  a 
'fair  show,'  but  it  is  generally  the  more  popular  man  who 
gets  the  better  of  it.  At  the  mining  camp  these  cases  gen- 
erally are  matters  relating  only  to  mining  matters,  but 
in  the  towns  they  embrace  all  sorts  of  questions,  and  it  is 
here,  more  than  at  the  'diggings'  that  the  popular  one  has 
a  'cinch.' 

"As  winter  settles  down  and  the  days  grow  shorter  and 
shorter  the  monotony  of  life  becomes  irksome.  The  cold 
is  intense,  the  mountains  seem  a  prison,  and  the  knowl- 
edge that  one  has  no  choice  but  to  stay  it  out,  unless  he 
takes  the  long  overland  trip,  makes  life  dreary.    The 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  325 

mails  are  uncertain  and  far  apart.  No  newspapers  find 
their  way  in  except  in  the  summer.  A  man  is  out  of  the 
world,  and  ahiiost  as  far  removed  from  it  as  if  he  were 
in  the  moon.  To  a  man  who  loves  his  home,  his  wife,  his 
children  and  his  friends  the  sense  of  isolation  and  help- 
lessness is  depressing.  It  seems  to  him  that  it  would  not 
be  so  bad  could  he  hear  from  home  and  know  how  they 
all  were,  but  the  long  months  drag  slowly  by  until  the 
first  of  the  year,  when  mail  sometimes  finds  its  way  in, 
having  left  the  states  some  three  or  four  months  before. 

"To  see  the  excitement  that  the  mail  from  the  outside 
makes,  to  see  the  eagerness  with  which  men  press  up  to 
the  postmaster's  desk  for  their  letters,  and  the  trembling 
hands  as  they  are  opened,  and  the  filling  eyes  as  they  are 
read,  touches  the  heart.  The  first  two  or  three  days  after 
the  mail's  arrival  find  the  morals  of  a  town  vastly  im- 
proved, but  this  soon  wears  away,  and  the  old  habits  are 
resumed. 

"Dec.  19  the  writer,  after  carefully  making  all  need- 
ful arrangements,  with  twelve  dogs,  three  sleds,  two  In- 
dians and  1,200  pounds  of  'grub,'  bedding  and  camp  out- 
fit, started  on  the  overland  trip,  a  distance  of  1,000  miles, 
to  the  sea  coast.  We  left  Circle  City  at  9  o'clock,  just  as 
day  was  breaking,  with  the  thermometer  at  46  degrees 
below  zero.  As  we  went  through  the  town  with  t'ne  dogs 
yelping  and  our  men  yelling,  every  saloon  door  opened, 
and  all  inside  came  out  to  wish  us  good  luck  and  a  safe 
journey. 

"It  was  turning  the  face  away  from  many  good  friends 
— many  whom  I  hope  to  meet  again — and  tackling  a 
great  unknown,  but  the  many  delays  which  had  kept  us 
back  for  two  weeks  made  every  one  light-hearted  and 
happy  at  getting  started  at  last,  and  we  soon  passed 
through  the  town,  down  the  river  bank,  and  on  to  the  ice 


326  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

in  the  river,  where  a  bend  in  the  river  soon  hid  Circle 
City. 

"A  Yukon  sled,  with  dogs,  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  coun- 
try. Our  sleds  were  nine  feet  long,  and  two  of  them 
were  chained  together.  On  this  'double-header'  we  had 
seven  dogs,  and  on  the  single  sled  five.  The  dogs  are 
hitched  together  tandem  fashion — one  ahead  of  the  other, 
the  wheel  dog  having  a  vvhiffletree  attached  to  his  traces. 
From  this  is  a  rope  running  back  to  the  sled,  which,  pass- 
ing, as  it  must,  between  the  driver's  legs,  necessitates  the 
acquiring  of  a  peculiar  gait,  for  with  each  turn  the  dogs 
make — as  the  trail  curves  from  side  to  side — the  driver 
has  to  keep  his  feet  moving  from  this  side  to  that  of  the 
'gee'  string,  as  it  is  called,  or  he  will  be  thrown  down.  On 
the  right  side  of  the  sled  is  a  strong,  smooth  pole,  reach- 
ing about  the  hip,  which  is  used  for  guiding  the  sled. 
Between  the  'gee'  string  and  keeping  the  sled  from  over- 
turning a  'tenderfoot'  is  generally  in  a  dripping  perspira- 
tion after  the  first  five  miles  are  covered,  and  his  legs  get 
sore  from  the  chafing  of  the  rope,  and  the  arm  mightily 
tired  from  guiding  the  heavy  sled. 

"The  clothing  used  in  traveling  is  also  peculiar  to  the 
country,  mine  consisting  of  a  heavy  suit  of  underwear,  a 
sweater,  a  pair  of  mackinaw  drawers,  a  mackinaw  shirt, 
and  a  fur  cap  which  came  down  about  the  ears  and  back 
of  the  neck  and  tied  under  the  chin.  The  fur  being  next 
to  the  skin,  that  part  of  the  head  covered  is  very  com- 
fortable. Fur-lined  mitts  covered  the  hands,  and  on  the 
feet  were  a  pair  of  woolen  socks,  a  pair  of  long  heavy 
German  socks  or  stockings,  and  a  pair  of  moccasins,  with 
straw  in  the  bottoms.  On  the  sled  for  extreme  and  windy 
weather  were  two  'parkas,'  one  of  drilling  and  the  other 
of  fur.  These  resemble  in  appearance  a  long  night  gown 
open  at  neither  the  front  nor  back,  with  a  hood  for  the 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  327 

head.  The  drillmg  'parka'  has  around  the  hood  a  Hning 
of  two  fox  tails.  When  the  wind  blows  these  drill  parkas 
are  put  on  and  the  hood  is  drawn  over  the  head,  which 
is  a  great  protection  for  the  face.  The  fur  one  is  used 
for  50-degree  and  60-degree  weather. 

''Our  first  halt  was  made  for  lunch  about  noon.  One 
Indian  took  an  ax  and  started  for  the  middle  of  the  river, 
where  he  chopped  a  hole  through  the  ice  for  water.  After 
filling  the  teapot  he  returned  to  where  the  sleds  were,  the 
other  Indian  in  the  meantime  having  gone  up  the  bank 
for  dry  wood.  In  a  few  minutes  we  had  a  roaring  fire, 
the  water  was  boiling,  beef  tea  was  made,  and  this,  with 
hard  tack,  constituted  our  first  meal.  The  cups  and 
spoons  W'Cre  quickly  put  away  in  tfie  grub  box,  the  sled 
lashed,  and  within  half  an  hour  we  w'ere  again  push- 
ing on. 

"At  2:30  o'clock  it  was  getting  dark,  but  a  full  moon 
and  a  clear  sky  made  it  nearly  as  bright  as  day,  so  we 
kept  going  until  6  o'clock,  when  we  stopped  for  the  night, 
having  made  twenty-five  miles  and  overtaken  a  party  two 
days  ahead  of  us.  The  Indians  went  up  the  bank  like 
squirrels,  and  having  picked  out  a  good  place  for  the 
tent,  cleared  away  the  snow  and  began  felling  some  fir 
trees.  These  were  soon  cleaned  of  their  boughs,  which, 
being  spread  down  on  the  ground  where  the  tent  was  to 
go,  were  to  serve  for  our  beds.  Our  tent,  an  8  by  10 
wall  tent,  was  soon  put  up;  the  stove  (built  especially 
for  the  trip,  18  inches  wide  and  30  inches  long)  was  in 
position;  the  pipe  (of  the  telescope  kind)  was  in  place; 
a  fire  was  soon  going  and  camp  was  made.  The  dogs 
were  unhitched  and  were  left  mousing  around  for  a  good 
place  to  make  their  bed,  while  we  prepared  supper.  Bacon 
was  sliced  up  and  fried,  beans  (already  boiled)  were 
warmed,  baking-powder  bread  was  baked,  the  tea  was 


328  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

set  boiling.  Then  victuals  were  all  divided  into  equal 
parts,  and  when  supper  was  over  there  wasn't  enough 
left  to  feed  a  snow  bird. 

"Our  tin  plates,  cups  and  cutlery  having  been  washed, 
a  big  square  bucket  about  two-thirds  full  of  water,  was 
put  on  to  the  stove.  When  this  was  boiling  flour,  dried 
salmon  and  bacon  were  thrown  in,  the  whole  mess  boiled 
a  little,  then  cooled  and  divided  into  twelve  equal  parts 
for  the  dogs.  When  this  was  consumed  and  the  dogs 
satisfied,  robes  were  spread  down,  thick  night  caps  and 
socks  made  of  caribou  skin  were  drawn  on,  every  one 
crowded  under  his  robe,  the  candle  was  put  out  and  the 
first  day  of  Arctic  travel  was  at  an  end.  As  the  fire  went 
out  and  the  heat  with  it,  the  cold  began  to  get  in,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  robes  were  drawn  over  the  head  and 
the  camp  was  asleep. 

"Six  o'clock  found  us  astir,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
a  pile  of  flapjacks  were  fried,  these  with  cofifee  being  our 
breakfast.  When  this  was  dispatched  the  bedding  was 
rolled  up  and  tied,  caps,  moccasins  and  mitts  were  put  on 
and  the  tent  was  struck  and  folded  into  a  small  bundle. 
All  this  was  carried  to  the  sleds  by  some,  while  others 
hunted  up  the  dogs,  now  scattered  around  under  the 
trees,  where  they  had  passed  the  night. 

"A  Siwash  dog  is  the  foulest,  meanest,  laziest  and  most 
profanity-provoking  animal  I  ever  met,  and  I  suppose 
that  it  is  the  most  abused  animal  that  comes  under  the 
white  man's  lash.  In  Alaska  these  dogs  answer  the  pur- 
pose of  the  horse  in  America,  being  used  both  for  pack- 
ing and  for  hauling.  A  good  dog  was  worth  $150  when 
we  left  Circle  City,  and  almost  anything  that  had  four 
legs  brought  not  less  than  $75.  I  have  seen  white  men 
beat  their  dogs  so  unmercifully  that  one  had  to  inter- 
fere.   A  heavy  whip  or  a  big  stick  satisfies  the  driver  for 


BOOK  FOR  GOLD-SEEKERS.  3S1 

a  time,  but  when  on  much  of  a  trip  a  chain  seems  to  fit 
their  needs  better.  When  a  dog  is  beaten  over  the  body 
and  head  with  a  chain  it  is  pretty  brutal,  and  many  a  dog 
has  had  ribs  and  legs  broken  and  eyes  knocked  out. 
Strange  to  say,  however,  the  white  man  as  a  rule  is  intel- 
ligent enough  to  provide  for  his  dogs,  even  though  he 
beats  them  more  unmercifully  than  do  the  natives. 

"Around  an  Indian  village  the  dogs  subsist  almost 
entirely  on  refuse,  as  the  natives  at  all  times  are  either 
too  hard  up  or  too  indifferent  to  give  their  dogs  any 
food  that  a  human  being  can  eat.  They  will  hitch  up  a 
team  and  start  out  for  a  journey  with  dogs  looking  so 
thin  and  weak  that  one  doubts  their  ability  to  go  five 
miles.  If  he  follows  them  a  day,  however,  he  w'ill  be 
mightily  tired  at  night.  Talk  of  the  Hves  of  a  cat! 
They  are  not  to  be  considered  in  the  same  instant  with 
the  tenacity  with  which  a  Siwash  dog  hangs  to  life.  With- 
out exaggeration,  I  have  seen  an  Indian  start  out  with  a 
team  of  dogs  and  travel  eighty  miles  in  three  days,  and 
there  was  not  a  dog  but  had  to  lean  against  a  building 
to  howl,  so  thin  and  weak  w^ere  they.  With  all  their  fiith- 
iness  and  meanness  they  are,  as  a  rule,  hard  workers  and 
faithful.  When  they  once  understand  that  the  driver  is 
going  to  do  the  driving  they  get  over  long  distances  and 
haul  big  loads.  In  ordinary  weather,  when  it  is  not 
colder  than  25  degrees  below  zero,  they  can  go  for  ten 
days  without  eating  anything  but  snow,  and  still  keep 
pretty  strong  and  fat. 

"Having  made  the  morning  start  with  much  yelling, 
some  urging  and  just  a  little  profanity,  the  procession 
was  soon  under  way,  and  with  the  good  trail  which  w^e 
had  a  three  miles  an  hour  gait  was  not  hard  to  keep  up. 
Every  few  miles  we  would  pass  small  piles  or  a  cache  of 
flour,  bacon  and  canned  goods  which  some  husky  miner 
17 


332  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

was  slowly  moving  up  the  river.  The  failure  of  the  last 
boats  to  get  farther  up  the  river  had  left  quite  a  shortage 
of  flour  and  bacon  above,  and  the  thrifty  ones  were  'pull- 
ing their  freight'  from  Circle  City  to  the  Klondike,  a  dis- 
tance of  300  miles.  Most  of  them  had  only  three  or  four 
dogs,  and  in  consequence  were  compelled  to  double  and 
triple  trip  it.  One  loads  his  sled  to  the  limit  of  the  dogs' 
endurance  in  the  morning  and  travels  until  about  2 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  he  unloads  and  piles  his 
stuff  near  the  trail  and  returns  for  the  rest  of  the  load, 
staying  for  the  night  at  the  place  where  he  started  in  the 
morning.  The  next  morning  he  takes  the  rest  of  his 
load,  or  as  much  as  he  can  haul,  and  goes  ahead  to  the 
point  where  the  first  of  the  load  was  left.  The  next  day 
he  pushes  on  in  the  same  way,  until  eventually  his  des- 
tination is  reached. 

"One  can  imagine  how  much  patience  and  hard  work 
this  entails,  but  stranger  than  this  is  the  Yukoner's  feeling 
of  security  that  his  cache  when  he  leaves  it  will  not  be 
disturbed.  Travelers  pass  right  by  these  caches  every  few 
days,  and  there  would  be  no  one  to  oppose  one's  helping 
himself  and  passing  on  with  but  little  danger  of  ever 
being  caught,  but  every  one  lives  up  to  the  one  command- 
ment on  the  Yukon,  'Thou  shalt  not  steal,'  even  though 
he  breaks  the  others  daily.  There  is  some  chance  for  a 
murderer  up  there,  but  when  a  thief  is  caught  he  is  a 
goner,  and  his  death  is  unmourned.  This  is  the  one 
great  unchangeable  law  up  there,  and  it  is  universally 
upheld.  Whether  from  fear  or  whether  from  the  knowl- 
edge that  each  man  is  often  at  the  mercy  of  his  neigh- 
bor, I  don't  pretend  to  know,  but  the  fact  remains  that 
stealing  in  the  Yukon  is  a  crime  that  seldom  has  to  be 
punished. 

"Our  course  as  day  succeeds  day  is  much  the  same. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  333 

Occasionally  we  strike  a  bad  place  where  snowshoes  are 
necessary,  and  where  the  trail  is  lost,  and  then  every  one 
goes  stamping  around  the  snow,  'feeling'  for  the  trail 
with  the  feet.  It  is  surprising  how  quickly  one  can  tell 
after  a  little  experience  where  the  trail  is  when  it  is  cov- 
ered up  by  snow.  Occasionally  we  pass  a  cabin,  but  it  is 
always  at  the  wrong  time  of  day  for  us  to  use  it  for  a 
camp.  When  a  cabin  is  seen  about  time  to  camp  the 
heart  of  the  traveler  is  made  happy,  for  he  knows  that 
there  is  a  lot  of  work  saved,  because  no  tent  goes  up  that 
night. 

"Every  miner  is  the  soul  of  hospitality,  and  as  glad  to 
see  you  and  as  cordial  in  his  welcome  as  he  can  be.  He 
won't  listen  to  your  putting  up  your  tent,  even  when  his 
cabin  is  small.  He  won't  let  you  cut  any  wood  or  fetch 
any  water.  He  insists  upon  doing  this  himself,  and  reit- 
erates, 'The  shack  is  yours,  pardner;  make  yourself  at 
home.'  He  will  often  insist  upon  your  sleeping  in  his 
bed,  and  is  content  with  the  floor  for  a  bed,  saying  to 
your  protests  against  routing  him  out,  'Now,  look  here, 
pardner;  I  can  sleep  in  that  bed  all  day  to-morrow,  if  I 
want  to,  but  you  can't,  so  get  in  there.' 

"Such  hospitality  warms  a  man's  heart,  because  it 
is  entirely  disinterested.  To  of^er  to  pay  for  any  accom- 
modations really  would  hurt  your  host,  and,  though  his 
quarters  are  rough  and  crude,  the  warmth  of  his  welcome 
makes  his  home  a  palace.  When  supper  is  dispatched 
he  wants  the  news  and  gossip  of  the  place  you  have  left, 
and  that  is  all.  In  the  morning  he  will  go  with  you  to 
show  you  a  short  cut,  if  there  be  one,  and  the  strong 
grip  of  the  hand,  the  'Good-by!  Good  luck,  old  man!' 
sends  you  on  your  way  happy  in  believing  that  the  coun- 
try is  full  of  just  such  men. 

"Rough  and  uncouth  are  some  of  them;  profane,  and 


334  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

with  tendencies  to  get  drunk  when  in  town — almost  all  of 
them — but  there  is  nearly  always  a  heart  that  is  gentle, 
warm  and  generous. 

"After  the  usual  number  of  upsets,  dog-fights,  burnt 
fingers  and  nipped  fingers  and  toes,  we  arrived  at  Fort 
Cudahy,  250  miles  from  Circle  City,  and  nine  and  a  half 
days  out.  Here  we  were  to  rest  our  dogs  and  ourselves 
and  overhaul  our  outfit,  for  from  here  out  we  must  pre- 
pare ourselves  to  get  along  without  being  able  to  get  any 
more  provisions  until  Dyea  is  reached.  A  quarter  of  the 
distance  had  been  covered,  every  one  was  in  good  shape 
and  there  was  no  doubt  in  our  minds  but  that  we  could 
stand  the  trip. 

"Fort  Cudahy  is  a  trading  post  of  one  of  the  Yukon 
companies,  and  it  is  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from 
Forty  Mile,  where  the  other  company  has  its  post.  It 
was  on  this  creek  that  runs  into  the  Yukon  that  gold  in 
paying  quantities  was  first  discovered.  Four  days  found 
us  in  shape  to  resume  our  march,  and  on  Jan.  2  we  made 
our  start,  with  a  bright,  clear  day,  and  the  thermometer 
43  degrees  below. 

"At  Fort  Cudahy  I  had  secured  a  thermometer  which 
registered  60  degrees  below  zero.  This  I  nailed  on  the 
rear  of  the  sled  I  was  'clerking'  on,  but  later  on,  when 
the  mercury  in  this  wenl  out  of  sight  and  one  of  the  In- 
dians mutinied,  I  began  to  doubt  the  wisdom  of  having 
anything  that  can  be  used  to  'keep  cases'  on  the  tempera- 
ture. 

"As  we  passed  Forty  Mile  we  ran  into  a  stretch  of 
river  that  was  rougher  than  any  'rocky  road  to  Dublin,' 
and  it  was  interesting  (for  about  a  minute)  to  notice  how 
many  times  a  minute  a  man  would  jump  from  one  side  of 
his  'gee  string*  to  the  other.  Sometimes  he  wouldn't 
clear  the  string,  and  the  result  would  be  a  trip,  and  if  one 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  335 

didn't  come  down  on  his  face  he  would  surely  get  on  his 
knees.  Then,  too,  the  sled  had  412  different  motions 
which  kept  the  hand  and  arm  that  were  on  the  'gee  stick' 
or  guide  pole  waving  back  and  forth,  up  and  down,  in 
an  effort  to  keep  the  sled  from  overturning.  This  lasted 
for  about  eight  miles,  and  I  honestly  think  if  it  had  been 
140  degrees  below^  zero,  instead  of  40,  I  should  have  been 
plenty  warm  enough.  As  it  was,  I  was  soon  dripping 
wet,  a  dangerous  condition  to  be  in,  as  one  chills  very 
quickly  after  perspiring.  After  the  rough  ice  was  over 
the  trail  was  magnificent,  as  hard  and  as  smooth  as  a 
board,  for  Klondike,  the  new  El  Dorado,  was  only  fifty 
miles  from  Fort  Cudahy,  and  the  many  men  who  had 
passed  over  the  road  before  us  had  made  the  going  good. 
We  reached  a  cabin  that  night,  where  w^e  found  a  stove, 
dry  wood  and  four  bunks,  and  you  may  be  sure  w'e  occu- 
pied it. 

"The  miners  of  this  section  had  'chipped  in'  and  paid 
for  having  two  of  these  houses  built.  They  were  placed 
seventeen  miles  apart,  so  that  they  could  be  easily  reached 
in  a  day's  journey.  They  were  open  for  every  one  wdio 
came  along,  and  were  a  source  of  great  comfort  and  con- 
venience to  all  travelers.  The  next  day  we  reached  Daw- 
son City,  which  is  the  town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Klondike 
river,  and  the  supply  station  for  the  mines.  There  was 
little  there  besides  a  bunk  house,  a  warehouse  and  a 
saloon,  but  we  were  welcomed  royally  as  we  ascended 
the  bank,  and  warmly  invited  to  'come  in  and  have  some- 
thing warm.' 

"It  was  here  that  we  became  accustomed  to  associating 
with  m.illionaires,  for  every  one  who  was  in  the  town  had 
from  one  to  three  claims  each  on  the  new  territory,  and 
while  many  of  them  had  to  'hang  up'  the  drinks  when 
they  bought,  they  considered  themselves  every  inch  mil- 


336  THE  CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

lionaircs,  just  the  same,  for  they  had  the  ground  and  the 
gold  was  there,  and  they  were  only  waiting  for  spring  to 
get  it  out.  One  man  I  knew,  who  had  started  for  Dyea 
thirty  days  before  we  left,  had  made  heroic  efiforts  to  get 
by  this  place,  but  the  temptation  was  too  strong,  and  he 
abandoned  his  party,  struck  ofi  up  the  creek,  and,  having 
found  a  man  who  was  willing  to  part  with  an  interest 
in  his  claim,  my  friend  went  down  into  his  sack  and 
weighed  out  $6,000  for  a  quarter  interest  in  the  property. 
Many  were  the  happy  men  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
for  prospects  had  been  wonderfully  rich. 

"A  dollar  and  a  half  to  the  pan  in  three  feet  of  gravel 
was  held  to  indicate  that  $250,000  could  be  taken  from 
that  claim,  for  'bed  rock'  was  from  twelve  to  twenty-five 
feet  deep.  One  young  man  had  repeatedly  panned  out 
$5  and  $6  from  one  pan,  and  by  'drifting'  and  'burning' 
had  got  to  the  surface  what  was  roughly  estimated  at 
$30,000.  Every  one  who  passed  his  cabin  was  offered 
$1.25  an  hour  to  help  him  work,  but  he  had  succeeded  in 
getting  only  four  helpers,  every  one  else  being  bent  on 
getting  ground  of  his  own. 

"Two  young  'tenderfoots'  were  working  in  an  ignorant 
sort  of  way  at  burning  their  ground,  thinking  that  it  was 
necessary  to  get  to  'bed  rock'  before  they  could  expect 
to  find  gold.  An  'old  timer,'  passing,  asked  them  what 
prospects  they  were  having,  and  was  surprised  when  he 
was  told,  'We  haven't  got  to  bed  rock  yet,  and  can't  tell.' 

"  'Bed  rock?  you  bloody  fool,  you  don't  have  to  v;ait 
till  you  get  there  to  see  whether  you  have  struck  pay  dirt 
or  not!'  said  the  old-timer.  'Here,  my  son,  give  me  that 
<yold  pan  and  I'll  show  you  how  to  find  out  whether  you 
are  in  it  or  not.'  The  young  men  were  delighted  to  do 
this,  and  watch  the  old  man  'pan  out'  a  shovelful  of  dirt. 
The  'old  timer'  was  paralyzed  v;hen  he  roughly  estimated 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  337 

the  pan  at  $2,  and  with  a  'Well,  by ,  pardner !  this 

is  good  enough  for  me/  he  cut  some  stakes  and  became 
their  neighbor. 

'■'He  watched  the  young  men  the  next  day  until  they 
got  to  bed  rock  (they  didn't  know  they  were  there  till  he 
got  into  the  hole  himself),  when  he  went  down,  and  in  a 
short  time  had  scraped  from  the  bed  rock  seventeen 
ounces  of  as  pure  gold  as  he  ever  saw. 

"  'Well,  I  am ,'  he  said.    'If  I'd  been  told  of  this  I 

never  would  have  believed  it!  I  am  pretty  old,  young 
men,  but  if  I  can't  make  $1,000  a  day  shoveling  into  a 
sluice  box  alone  (and  I  am  a  pretty  poor  shoveler),  with 
such  ground  as  that  I  hope  I  may  never  make  another 
clean-up !' 

"I  don't  suppose  $50,000  would  buy  these  claims  to- 
day. Such  was  the  news  we  heard  when  we  had  been 
in  Dawson  a  little  while. 

"It  was  hard  work  to  pass  by  such  a  chance,  but  we 
were  a  long  way  from  Dyea,  and  had  no  chance  to  get 
any  more  grub  than  we  had  until  we  were  out,  and  grub 
goes  awfully  fast  sitting  around  a  camp.  The  next  morn- 
ing at  6  o'clock  we  were  off  in  a  blinding  snowstorm. 
The  trail  was  covered,  the  wind  blowing  like  the  dickens, 
the  dogs  lazy  and  ugly  and  every  man  in  the  party  on 
snowshoes,  plunging  more  or  less  blindly  ahead.  It  made 
one  inclined  to  turn  back. 

"All  our  footsteps  had  been  toward  the  sea  and  we 
did  not  begin  then  to  do  any  'double-tripping.'  Having 
picked  up  a  white  man  w'ho  wanted  to  get  home,  in  spite 
of  all  the  new  El  Dorados  in  Alaska,  we  left  the  town  of 
rosy  dreams  and  light  hearts  behind. 

"We  wallowed  and  sweat  and  swore  and  yelled  and 
wallowed  and  swore  many  times  until  1 1  o'clock,  when  we 
crowded  in  behind  some  drift  wood,  and  after  many  at- 


338  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

tempts  got  a  fire  going-.  We  were  some  fifty  feet  from 
the  sleds  when  we  had  the  fire  going,  and  everything 
seemed  to  be  all  right,  but  when  we  got  back  to  where 
we  had  left  them  there  was  nothing  but  two  drifts.  At 
first  I  thought  the  dogs  had  run  away,  but  when  we  dug 
down  a  little  we  found  them  all  peacefully  sleeping  and 
warm  as  toast,  the  drifting,  driving  snow  having  quickly 
covered  them. 

"We  made  about  twelve  miles  that  day,  but  it  seemed 
as  if  we  had  gone  112  when  we  finally  made  camp.  The 
next  day  our  hearts  were  lightened  by  seeing  some  men 
with  horses  who  had  broken  a  good  trail  for  us.  This 
•made  our  progress  rapid.  When  two  men  meet  on  the 
trail  they  ahvays  stop  and  pass  the  time  of  day.  Each 
looks  the  other's  face  over  carefully  to  see  if  there  are 
any  white  spots  visible,  which,  should  any  be  noticed, 
are  at  once  spoken  of,  and  then  comes  the  invariable  ques- 
tion, 'Well,  pardner,  where  are  you  going?' 

"We  were  two  and  a  half  days  going  the  fifty  miles  to 
Fort  Reliance,  or  Sixty-Mile,  and  laid  up  here  for  the  rest 
of  the  third  day.  There  is  a  trading  post  here,  owned  and 
run  by  an  old  man  named  Harper.  He  is  the  pioneer  of 
the  country,  having  been  in  the  Yukon  for  several  years 
(something  like  eighteen,  I  believe).  He  came  from  far 
of?  Brooklyn,  and  gave  us  the  warm  welcome  every  one 
o-ets  there.  He  insisted  upon  our  staying  to  dinner  and 
supper,  and  you  may  be  sure  that  we  did  justice  to  the 
tender  moose  steaks,  frozen  potatoes  and  yeast-cake 
bread  which  he  spread  before  us.  He  gave  us  a  cabin  for 
our  Indians  and  ourselves,  and  the  only  way  we  could  get 
even  was  by  buying  some  moccasins  our  white  passenger, 
Sam,  needed.  Some  Indians  with  a  toboggan  having 
started  along  the  trail  about  two  hours  ahead  of  us,  we 
went  smoothly  and  rapidly  along  our  way  the  next  morn- 


BOOK   FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  341 

ing.  Five  and  one-half  days  brought  us  to  Fort  Selkirk, 
or  Pelly  river  post,  and  here  we  rested  a  day  and  a  half. 
From  Pelly  river  to  Dyea  we  had  nothing  ahead  of  us 
to  look  forward  to  should  we  need  succor  until  we  reached 
the  coast,  but  the  knowledge  that  we  were  half  way  and 
all  doing  well  made  the  500  remaining  miles  not  so  much 
of  a  terror  after  all." 


342 


THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  WORLD'S  GOLD  PRODUCT. 

LASKA'S  GOLD  product  and  its  effect 
on  the  world  is  concisely  treated  by 
R.  E.  Preston,  director  of  the  mint  at 
Washington,  in  an  interesting  com- 
munication to  the  New  York  Herald. 
He  gives  the  estimated  gold  product 
of  1897  of  the  United  States  with  the 
probable  output  from  other  fields.  His 
communication  reads  as  follows: 

"That  gold  exists  in  large  quantities  in  the  newly  dis- 
covered Klondike  district  is  sufficiently  proved  by  the 
large  amount  recently  brought  out  by  the  steamship 
companies  and  miners  returning  to  the  United  States 
who  went  into  the  district  within  the  last  eighteen 
months.  So  far,  $1,500,000  in  gold  from  the  Klondike 
district  has  been  deposited  at  the  mints  and  assay  offices 
of  the  United  States,  and  from  information  now  at  hand 
there  are  substantial  reasons  for  believing  that  from 
$3,000,000  to  $4,000,000  additional  will  be  brought  out 
by  the  steamers  and  returning  miners,  sailing  from  St. 
]\Iichael  the  last  of  September  or  early  October  next 
(1897).  One  of  the  steamship  companies  states  that  it 
expects  to  bring  out  about  $2,000,000  on  its  steamer  sail- 
ing from  St.  Michael  September  30  (1897)  and  has  asked 
the  government  to  have  a  revenue  cutter  act  as  a  con- 
voy through  the  Bering  sea.  In  view  of  the  facts  above 
stated  I  am  justified  in  estimating  that  the  Klondike  dis- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  343 

trict  will  augment  the  world's  gold  supply  in  1897  nearly 
$6,000,000. 

"The  gold  product  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  for 
1896,  as  estimated  by  Dr.  G.  M.  Dawson,  director  of  the 
geological  survey  of  that  country,  was  $2,810,000.  Of 
this  sum  the  Yukon  placers,  within  British  territory, 
were  credited  with  a  production  of  $355,000.  The  total 
product  of  that  country  for  1897  has,  therefore,  been 
estimated  at  $10,000,000,  an  increase  over  1896  of  $7,200,- 
000.  From  this  the  richness  of  the  newly  discovered  gold 
fields  of  the  Klondike  is  evident. 

'Tn  this  connection  it  is  important  to  know  what  will 
be  the  probable  increase  in  the  several  countries  of  the 
world,  and  for  the  purpose  of  comparison,  based  upon 
infomiation  received,  the  following  table  of  the  gold 
product  of  the  United  States,  Australia,  Africa,  Mexico, 
the  Dominion  of  Canada,  Russia  and  British  India  for 

1896,  and  the  estimated  product  of  these  countries  for 

1897,  is  here  given: 

1896.  1897.  Increase. 

United   States.. $  53,000,000    $  60,000,000  $  7,000,000 

Australia  46,250,000  52,000,000  5,750,000 

Africa   44,000,000  56,000,000  12,000,000 

Mexico 7,000,000  9,000,000  2,000,000 

Dom.  of  Canada       2,810,000  10,000,000  7,200,000 

Russia  22,000,000  25,000,000  3,000,000 

British  India  ..        5,825,000  7,000,000  1,175,000 

Totals $180,885,000     $219,000,000     $38,125,000 

"The  world's  gold  product  for  1896  is  estimated  to 
have  been  $205,000,000.  In  justification  of  the  above 
estimate  of  the  increase  in  the  countries  mentioned  I 
may  remark  that  of  the  United  States  is  based  upon  the 
deposits  at  the  mints  and  assay  offices  for  the  first  six 
months  of  the  year,  which  clearly  indicate  a  largely  in- 


344  THE   CKICxVGO   RECORD'S 

creased  production,  and  that  the  increase  for  the  year 
will  aggregate  $7,000,000.  The  gold  product  of  Africa 
for  1896  is  estimated  to  have  been  $44,000,000.  For  the 
first  six  months  of  1897  the  output  of  the  Witwatersrandt 
mines,  as  shown  by  ofBcial  returns,  was  1,338,431  ounces, 
an  increase  of  333,928  ounces,  as  compared  with  the  first 
six  months  of  1896.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  rate  of 
production  in  the  Witwatersrandt  mines  will  be  main- 
tained* for  the  remainder  of  the  year,  and  their  output 
of  gold  for  1897  will  be  fully  $12,000,000  greater  than  that 
of  1896. 

"The  deposits  of  gold  at  the  Australian  mints  for  the 
first  five  months  of  the  year  clearly  indicate  a  substantial 
gain  in  1897  over  1896.  Upon  the  basis  of  the  deposits 
for  the  first  five  months  at  the  mints  the  Australian  Insur- 
ance and  Banking  Record  for  the  month  of  June  esti- 
mates that  the  gold  product  for  1897  of  the  several  colo- 
nies will  aggregate  2,700,000  ounces,  of  the  value  of  $52,- 
550,000.  This  would  be  an  increase  of  $5,750,000  over 
the  product  of  1896. 

"The  gold  product  of  jMexico  for  1896  is  estimated  to 
have  been  $7,000,000.  The  information  received  indi- 
cates that  the  product  for  1897  will  approximate  $9,000,- 
000,  an  increase  of  $2,000,000. 

"The  Russian  product  for  1896  was  $22,000,000;  for 
1897  it  is  estimated  at  $25,000,000,  an  increase  of  $3,000,- 
000. 

"The  gold  product  of  British  India  for  1896,  from  offi- 
cial information  received,  is  estimated  at  $5,825,000.  The 
returns  of  the  mines  for  the  first  six  months  of  1897 
indicate  an  increased  production  over  1896  of  $1,200,000. 

"From  the  data  above  given  it  is  safe  to  estimate  that 
the  seven  countries  above  named  will  show  an  increase 
in  their  gold  output  for  1897  over  1896  of  $38,700,000, 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  345 

and  that  the  world's  product  for  1897  can  therefore  be 
estimated  at  not  less  than  $240,000,000.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  world's  product  of  gold  w411  continue  to 
increase  for  a  number  of  years  to  come,  as  new  mines 
will  be  opened  up  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and,  with 
improved  appliances  for  mining  and  methods  of  extract- 
ing the  gold  contained  in  the  ores,  I  believe  that  by  the 
close  of  the  present  century  the  world's  gold  product 
will  closely  approximate,  if  not  exceed,  $300,000,000. 

"I  have  spoken  above  of  the  addition  likely  to  be  made 
in  1897  to  the  world's  stock  of  gold  by  the  Klondike  dis- 
trict, by  the  Transvaal,  by  the  United  States,  Australia, 
Russia,  Mexico,  India,  etc.  Of  all  these  gold-producing 
countries,  of  course,  the  Klondike  is  at  present  the  one 
of  most  obsorbing  interest.  It  strikes  the  imagination 
to-day  as  California  did  the  minds  of  the  '49ers.  It  will 
add  in  1897  possibly  $6,000,000  to  the  gold  treasure  of 
the  world. 

"Now  as  to  the  influence  of  such  addition  to  the  world's 
gold.  The  influence  it  will  exert  depends  mainly  on 
how  many  years  the  Klondike  district  shall  continue  a 
producer  and  how  large  its  annual  increment  to  the 
world's  existing  stock  of  gold  shall  be.  There  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  Alaska  and  the  adjacent  British 
territory  are  possibly  as  rich  in  gold  as  was  California 
or  Australia  when  first  discovered.  I  have  estimated  that 
the  Klondike  district  will  in  1897  produce  $6,000,000 
worth  of  gold.  It  will  add  to  this  product  from  year  to 
year  probably  for  a  minimum  of  one  or  two  decades. 
And  whether  the  gold  comes  from  American  or  British 
territory  is  a  matter  of  indifiference,  except  to  the  own- 
ers, and,  to  some  extent,  to  the  countries  producing  it. 
The  effect  of  the  increase  on  the  economic  condition  of 
mankind,  on  the  rate  of  discount,  the  rate  of  interest,  the 


346  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

rate  of  wages,  on  prices  and  on  monetary  policies,  of  a 
newly  discovered  gold  field  of  wonderful  richness  is  the 
same,  whether  the  field  be  located  in  American,  British 
or   Chinese   territory. 

"Now,  the  first  influence  that  the  new  addition  to  the 
world's  existing  stock  of  gold  will  have  will  be  felt  by 
silver.  In  fact,  it  has  already  been  felt  by  it.  Gold  is  the 
natural  competitor — we  might  almost  say  antagonist — 
of  silver  as  a  monetary  medium,  and  every  ounce  of 
gold  newly  placed  on  the  market  deprives  from  17-^-  to 
35  ounces  of  silver  of  a  possible  employment  as  money 
that  it  might  have.  I  say  this  because  gold,  weight  for 
weight,  is  now  worth  thirty-six  and  six-tenths  times  as 
much  silver,  and  because,  at  most,  half  of  the  gold  dis- 
covered finds  industrial  employment. 

"The  new  additions  to  the  world's  stock  of  gold, 
whether  they  come  from  the  Klondike,  Cripple  Creek  or 
the  Transvaal,  from  India,  Australia  or  Russia,  will  ren- 
der bimetallism  by  the  United  States  alone  more  difficult 
and  more  improbable  than  ever,  and  will  even  seriously 
imperil  the  slender  chances  that  international  bimetallism 
now  has. 

"Bimetallists  have  long  been  asking  the  question 
where  the  gold  is  to  be  found  that  is  to  take  the  place  of 
the  silver  demonetized.  The  discoveries  at  Cripple 
Creek,  in  the  Transvaal  and  on  the  Klondike  are  a  suffi- 
cient answer  to  this  question.  The  mines  of  the  world 
have  been  turning  out  gold  of  late  years  in  greater  pro- 
fusion than  ever  before.  The  year  1893  marks  an  epoch 
in  this  respect.  In  the  report  of  the  director  of  the  mint 
upon  the  production  of  the  precious  metals  in  the  United 
States  during  the  calendar  year  1893  I  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  world's  output  of  gold  in  that  year 
was  the  largest  in  history,  amounting  to  $155,522,000, 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  347 

and  that  it  was  16.08  per  cent  greater  than  the  annual 
average  of  the  period  of  the  greatest  productiveness  of 
the  Cahfornian  and  Austrahan  gold  mines. 

"And  in  the  report  of  the  same  series  of  the  calendar 
year  1894  I  remarked  that  the  value  of  the  world's  pro- 
duction of  gold  in  that  year  not  only  equaled  the  average 
value  of  both  gold  and  silver  in  the  period  1861-1865, 
but  exceeded  it  by  $11,204,600,  and  that  the  probability 
expressed  by  me  in  1893  that  the  value  of  the  world's  out- 
put of  gold  in  1895  and  1896  would  equal  that  of  both 
metals  in  the  years  immediately  preceding  the  beginning 
of  the  depreciation  of  silver  had  been  changed  into  a 
certainty  by  the  events  of  1894,  since  the  average  annual 
yield  of  gold  and  silver  of  all  countries  in  the  period 
1 866- 1 873  exceeded  that  of  gold  alone  in  1894  by  less 
than  $11,000,000.  If  the  production  of  gold  in  1897 
reaches  that  figure,  which  I  confidently  believe  it  will, 
of  $240,000,000,  it  will  exceed  the  average  yearly  value  of 
both  the  gold  and  silver  product  of  the  world  for  the 
period  of  eight  years — 1866  to  1873 — which  just  pre- 
ceded the  beginning  of  the  depreciation  of  silver — viz., 
$190,831,000 — by  over  $50,000,000. 

"Leaving  out  of  consideration,  therefore,  the  indus- 
trial employment  of  the  two  metals,  the  world  now  an- 
nually produces  in  gold  alone  some  $50,000,000  more  for 
monetary  uses  than  it  did  in  both  gold  and  silver  during 
the  eight  years  (on  an  average)  that  preceded  the  begin- 
ning of  the  depreciation  of  the  latter  metal. 

"On  the  supposition  that  silver  has  entirely  ceased  to 
be  coined,  the  world  is  richer  in  1897  in  material  for  the 
coinage  of  full  legal  tender  or  standard  mxoney  than  it 
was  at  any  former  period  of  the  world's  history,  and  the 
indications  are  that  it  will  grow  richer  in  this  respect 
in  every  succeeding  year  for  decades  to  come. 


348  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

"Hence  my  belief  that  the  first  effect  of  the  new  addi- 
tions of  gold  to  the  stock  already  in  existence  will  be 
an  effect  detrimental  to  bimetallism,  whether  national 
or  international.  There  are  some,  I  know,  who  think 
that  the  increased  production  of  gold  will  have  the  con- 
trary effect,  and  that  it  will  lead  to  the  remonetization 
of  silver.  They  base  their  argument  on  this,  that  the 
increased  production  of  gold  will  be  followed  by  a  depre- 
ciation of  its  value.  This  might  be  if  the  new  demand 
for  gold  did  not  increase  more  rapidly  than  the  supply. 
But  the  former  is  likely  to  exceed  the  latter. 
~N .  "There  is,  in  fact,  at  the  present  time,  no  limit  to  the 
demand  for  gold.  The  tendency  of  nations  is  toward 
the  single  gold  standard.  Apart  from  the  United  States, 
there  is  not,  I  believe,  a  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
that  would  not  adopt  gold  monometallism  if  it  had  the 
ability  to  do  so,  with  silver  as  a  subsidiary  or  token  coin- 
age. There  is  not  a  country  in  Europe  with  any  full 
legal  tender  silver  coins  but  would  replace  them  by  gold 
coins  if  it  could  do  so  without  too  great  a  sacrifice.  Ger- 
many would  gladly  put  $100,000,000  in  circulation,  in- 
stead of  its  silver  thalers.  France  and  all  the  countries  of 
the  Latin  Union  would  replace  their  full  legal  tender 
5-franc  pieces  by  gold  could  they  easily  get  it.  Russia's 
demand  for  gold  is  unbounded.  Austria-Hungary  can- 
not get  enough,  and  so  of  every  other  country  in  Europe. 
Japan  wants  gold  now  that  it  has  adopted  the  gold  stand- 
ard. Even  China  shows  an  inclination  to  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  its  conqueror,  but  that,  of  course,  is  out  of  the 
question.  All  South  America  is  crying  for  gold.  Chili 
wants  it,  Colombia  wants  it,  Peru  wants  it.  Venezuela 
has  some,  but  wants  more.  Central  America  wants  it. 
Even  Mexico,  the  last  stronghold  of  silver,  is  feeling  the 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  351 

burdensomeness  of  its  present  system  in  the  height  of 
its  rate  of  exchange. 

"More  than  this.  The  nations  of  Europe  want  gold, 
not  only  as  currency,  but  as  war  material,  for  they  have 
come  to  understand  that  gold — gold,  not  all  kinds  of 
money — is  the  sinew  of  war.  Germany  has  a  gold  fund 
locked  up  in  a  fortress,  and  the  accumulations  of  that 
metal  made  by  other  governments,  ostensibly  for  differ- 
ent purposes,  are  really  only  so  much  war  material,  which 
the  nations  of  Europe  can  no  more  dispense  with  than 
they  can  with  a  standing  army  or  a  navy.  And  where 
no  such  fund  can  be  actually  pointed  to,  as  in  England, 
there  is  felt  the  confidence  that  it  can  be  had  at  any  time 
on  the  credit  of  the  nation.  Then  it  must  be  remembered 
that  all  great  loans  are  now  made  and  must  be  made  in 
gold.  Only  home  loans  are  made  in  any  other  medium. 
This  disposes  of  the  contention  that  there  is  likely  to 
be  any  depreciation  in  the  value  of  gold  consequent  on 
the  increased  supply. 

"Will  the  new  additions  to  the  gold  stock  of  the  world 
have  any  effect  on  prices?  Should  the  increase  of  the 
world's  production  due  to  the  yield  of  gold  in  the  Klon- 
dike district,  as  well  as  in  the  Transvaal,  be  any  way 
near  as  large  as  that  due  to  the  mines  of  California  and 
Australia  in  the  years  immediately  succeeding  the  dis- 
covery of  the  metal  in  those  countries,  it  probably  will, 
in  time,  especially  if  the  new  additions  bear  the  same 
proportion  to  the  already  existing  stock  of  gold  in  the 
world  as  did  those  of  California  and  Australia.  But  any 
increase  of  prices  that  may  thereby  be  caused  will  be  grad- 
ual and  may  not  be  noticed  for  some  years  to  come.  It 
cannot  be  noticed  until  gold  begins  to  depreciate  in 
value,  and  of  that  there  is  no  present  prospect. 

"Shortly  after  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  and 
18 


352  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

Australia  there  was  a  very  marked  rise  in  the  general 
level  of  prices,  which  writers  on  the  subject  have  gener- 
ally attributed  to  the  decline  of  the  value  of  gold  at  that 
time.  French  publicists  were  the  first  to  call  attention 
to  this  phenomenon.  This  was  in  1851,  1852,  and  1853. 
Chevalier  wrote  about  it  in  1857.  In  1858  another  emi- 
nent French  writer  published  a  book,  entitled  'The  Ques- 
tion of  Gold,'  in  which  he  showed  the  greatness  of  the 
rise  and  the  consequences,  favorable  or  otherwise,  which 
it  might  have  for  individuals  or  for  states.  The  following 
year  Chevalier  took  up  the  subject  anew  and  endeavored 
to  forecast  the  commercial  and  social  effects  which  the 
decline  of  gold  might  have  in  the  future.  In  England 
several  statisticians  noticed  the  same  depreciation  about 
the  same  time.  Newmarch  and  Macculloch  doubted  it. 
But  in  1863  Stanley  Jevons  demonstrated  it  in  his  essay, 
'A  Serious  Fall  in  the  Value  of  Gold  Ascertained  and  Its 
Social  Effects  Set  Forth.'  Ten  years  later  De  Foville, 
after  a  long  and  laborious  investigation,  came  also  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  had  been  a  decrease  in  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  money. 

"While  the  value  of  gold  was  thus  declining  there  was 
a  sudden  and  extraordinary  increase  in  the  supply  of  the 
metal.  From  1831  to  1840  the  annual  production  had 
not  exceeded,  on  an  average,  20,289  kilograms,  or  $13,- 
484,000.  From  1841  to  1850,  after  the  rich  auriferous 
deposits  of  the  Ural,  and  especially  of  Siberia,  had  begun 
to  be  worked,  the  average  annual  product  rose  to  54,759 
kilograms,  or  $36,393,000.  The  annual  average  was 
abruptly  raised  by  the  discovery  of  the  gold  diggings  of 
California  and  Australia  to  199,388  kilograms,  or  $132,- 
513,000,  from  1851  to  1855,  and  to  an  annual  average 
of  101,750  kilograms,  or  $134,083,000,  from  1856  to 
i860.     The  production   subsequently  averaged    185,057 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  353 

kilograms,  or  $122,989,000,  from  1861  to  1865,  and  195,- 
026  kilograms,  or  $129,614,000,  from  1866  to  1870.  From 
1493,  that  is  from  the  discovery  of  America,  until  1850, 
that  IS  in  357  years,  the  quantity  produced  was  4,752,070 
kilograms,  or  $3,158,223,000.  From  1851  to  1870,  in  20 
years,  the  quantity  of  gold  produced  was  3,905,205  kilo- 
grams, or  $2,595,996,000.  This  newly  extracted  gold, 
therefore,  represented  more  than  82  per  cent  of  the  pro- 
duction anterior  to  1850,  and  more  than  45  per  cent  of  the 
total  production  after  1493. 

"It  is  easy  to  see  that  such  a  revolution  in  the  condi- 
tions of  production  caused  a  decline  of  gold  which  be- 
came manifest  in  a  rise  of  prices. 

"The  rise  of  prices  was  general  at  first.  In  1858,  ac- 
cording to  Levasseur,  the  price  of  wheat,  compared  with 
the  price  in  1848,  had  doubled;  the  price  of  natural  prod- 
ucts, compared  with  the  price  in  1847,  had  increased  67.19 
per  cent;  the  price  of  manufactured  articles  compared 
with  that  of  1847  had  risen  14.94  per  cent;  the  average 
prices  of  all  commodities  had  increased  41.61  per  cent. 
The  learned  writer  took  care  to  remark  that  the  rise  of 
prices  was  not  due  exclusively  to  the  decline  of  gold.  He 
admitted,  in  the  first  place,  that  war  and  famine  had 
caused  a  rise  of  about  20  per  cent  in  the  prices  of  natural 
as  distinguished  from  manufactured  products,  and  of  2 
per  cent  in  manufactured  products,  and  that,  besides, 
speculation  in  1856  had  swollen  all  prices  to  the  extent  of 
5  per  cent.  Leaving  out  of  consideration  these  transi- 
tory causes,  natural  products  had  increased,  in  1858,  by 
42.19  per  cent,  manufactured  products  by  7.94  per  cent, 
all  commodities  considered  as  a  whole  by  an  average  of 
25  per  cent.  From  this  rise  of  25  per  cent  it  was  neces- 
sary to  deduct  5  per  cent  in  order  to  take  into  account 
the  effect  of  the  developments  of  industry  and  of  the  in- 


354  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

crease  of  the  number  of  consumers.  As  a  final  result  he 
found  that  the  greater  abundance  of  gold  had  caused  a 
rise  of  20  per  cent  in  prices.  A  decline  in  the  value  of 
money  thus  amounted  to  16.67  P^^  cent. 

"In  1863  Stanley  Jevons  reached  a  conclusion  almost 
the  same.  He  believed  that  the  decline  of  gold  could  not 
be  less  than  15  per  cent,  and  that  it  might  be  more.  In 
1863,  or  thereabouts,  the  consequences  of  the  decline  be- 
gan to  be  less  apparent  than  in  1858.  The  general  rise 
of  prices  was  succeeded  by  movements  of  a  very  different 
kind.  Several  causes  which  Mr.  Levas&eur  had  already 
drawn  attention  to  began  either  to  counteract  or  to 
strengthen  the  effects  of  the  plentifulness  of  the  standard 
metal,  so  that  in  the  case  of  certain  commodities  there 
came  a  decline  instead  of  a  rise,  while  in  others  the  de- 
cline became  greater  still. 

"In  1873,  when  Mr.  De  Foville  published  the  results 
of  his  investigations  concerning  prices,  the  movement, 
which  in  1850  was  faintly  outlined,  became  very  marked 
and  well  defined.  That  writer  showed  that  the  prices  of 
1873  presented,  as  compared  with  those  of  half  a  century 
before,  a  rise  of  90  per  cent  for  foods  of  animal  origin, 
of  30  per  cent  for  vegetable  foods,  and  45  per  cent  for 
domestic  liquors.  He  showed,  on  the  other  hand,  a  de- 
cline of  prices  of  35  per  cent  for  mineral  products,  of  50 
per  cent  for  textiles  and  45  per  cent  for  chemical  products, 
glassware  and  paper. 

"By  a  combination  of  rises  and  declines  of  prices,  ac- 
cording to  the  method  which  he  called  that  of  budget 
averages,  Mr.  De  Foville  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
there  had  been  an  increase  of  33  per  cent  in  the  prices  of 
commodities,  corresponding  to  a  decrease  of  25  per  cent 
in  the  purchasing  power  of  money  from  the  period  1820- 
25  to  1870-75. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  355 

"It  will  be  remarked  that  in  this  period  of  fifty  years 
the  quantity  of  gold  produced  almost  trebled  as  compared 
with  the  332  years  between  1493  and  1825.  The  quanti- 
ties produced  amounted  in  1825  to  3,926,510  kilograms, 
or  $2,609,558,000,  and  in  1875  to  9,523,696  kilograms,  or 
$6,329,448,000.  Yet  the  decline  of  gold  was  only  25  per 
cent.  It  must  be  remarked,  however,  that  this  deprecia- 
tion of  25  per  cent  was  due  to  a  combination  of  causes  of 
various  kinds,  and  was  not  due  entirely  to  the  abundance 
of  gold.  Between  1825  and  1875  an  economic  revolution 
was  accomplished  in  the  world  greater  than  most  politi- 
cal revolutions.  To  describe  the  revolution  just  referred 
to  would  be  to  write  the  industrial,  commercial,  financial 
and  monetary  history  of  those  fifty  years. 

"Judging  from  the  effect  of  the  gold  discoveries  in 
California  and  Australia  in  gradually  raising  general 
prices  from  1850  to  1873  or  thereabouts,  it  would  be  only 
natural  to  conclude  that  the  effect  of  the  now  rapidly  in- 
creasing conditions  made  annually  to  the  world's  product 
in  the  Transvaal,  Australia,  the  United  States,  Russia 
and  in  the  Klondike  district  would  have  a  similar  effect, 
provided  they  bore  something  like  the  same  proportion 
to  the  already  existing  stock  of  gold  as  did  those  of  Cali- 
fornia and  Australia  to  the  stock  already  on  hand  in  1850. 
Since  1871  the  production  of  gold  has  been  about  5,200,- 
000  kilograms,  or  $3,455,920,000,  or  will  be  by  the  end  of 
the  present  year.  Since  1886  alone  the  product  has  been 
about  2,718,000  kilograms,  or  $1,806,383,000.  The  gold 
product  from  1886  to  1897  has  been  nearly  25  per  cent  of 
the  total  output  of  the  gold  mines  of  the  world  from  1493 
to  1885,  and  the  total  product  of  gold  from  1871  to  1897 
has  been  approximately  60  per  cent  of  the  world's  product 
of  that  metal  from  the  discovery  of  America  to  1870. 

"Such   an  enormous  production  of  gold  since    1870 


356  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

would  lead  one  to  believe  that  there  would  necessarily  be 
caused  thereby  a  great  rise  of  prices.  But  as  a  matter 
of  fact  the  contrary  has,  on  the  whole,  been  the  case.  A 
general  decline  of  prices  began  in  1873,  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  vast  increase  in  the  world's  stock  of  gold  just  re- 
ferred to,  the  decline  still  continues.  Economists  and 
statisticians  of  great  merit  believe  that  this  general  de- 
cline is  due  to  what  they  call  the  appreciation  of  gold, 
although  how  there  can  be  an  appreciation  of  gold  when 
the  world's  output  of  the  metal  since  1871  has  been  about 
60  per  cent  of  its  total  product  from  1493  to  1870  they  do 
not  explain, 

"This  vast  increase  in  the  gold  stock  of  the  world  has 
found  expression  in  the  lowness  of  the  rate  of  discount, 
in  the  facility  with  which  municipalities  and  states  effect 
loans  of  great  magnitude  at  a  rate  of  interest  lower  than 
ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  in  the  vast 
accumulation  of  gold  and  silver  bullion  in  the  great  banks 
of  the  world.  The  fact  that  prices  have  not  risen  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  increase  is  undoubted  evidence  that  the 
causes  of  their  decline  have  their  source  elsewhere  than 
in  the  scarcity  of  gold  or  of  money  in  general.  For,  as 
remarked  above,  there  is  now  more  gold  available  for 
monetary  purposes  than  there  was  gold  and  silver  before 
the  decline  of  prices  began.  Not  only  this,  but  the  substi- 
tutes for  money  with  which  every  business  man  is  familiar 
have  vastly  increased  since  1873.  With  the  development 
of  credit  that  now  obtains  in  the  world  the  quantity  of 
the  media  of  circulation  can  have  no  controlling  influence 
on  the  prices  of  commodities. 

"I  know  it  is  almost  a  despairing  view  to  take  that, 
notwithstanding  the  vast  additions  yearly  making  to  the 
gold  stock  of  the  world,  there  is  no  immediate  prospect 
of  a  general  rise  of  prices  from  that  cause;  and  yet,  con- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  357 

sidering  the  simple  fact  that  the  addition  to  the  world's 
gold  stock  since  1871  has  been  nearly  60  per  cent  of  the 
world's  output  of  this  metal  from  the  discovery  of  Amer- 
ica up  to  1870,  and  that  the  product  since  1886  up  to  the 
end  of  1897  (an  estimate  of  $240,000,000  being  made  for 
that  year)  was  nearly  25  per  cent  of  the  total  product 
from  1493  to  1885,  I  can  reach  no  other  conclusion.  The 
great  addition  to  the  world's  stock  of  gold  since  1873  is 
a  demonstrated  fact,  but  so  also  is  the  continued  decline 
of  prices. 

"The  advocates  of  silver  maintain  that  the  decline  is 
due  to  the  demonetization  of  that  metal  and  the  conse- 
quent scarcity  of  money.  Yet  money  was  never  more 
plentiful,  rates  of  discount  and  interest  never  lower,  ac- 
cumulations in  the  banks  never  greater. 

"These  facts  conclusively  refute  their  contention. 

"May  not  the  true  cause  be  found  in  the  stability  of 
the  value  of  gold — the  most  desirable  quality  in  a  money 
metal — and  in  the  improvement  in  technical  processes 
and  the  cheapening  of  transportation — an  improvement 
and  a  cheapening  still  going  on — as  well  as  in  the  almost 
universal  substitution  of  machine  for  human  labor?" 

It  is  reported  from  London  that  Russian  expeditions 
have  discovered  gold  fields  in  the  vicinity  of  the  sea  of 
Okhotsk  and  that  the  government  is  about  to  send  to 
the  peninsula  of  Kamchatka  to  develop  the  supposed  gold 
region  there.  This  report  caused  great  interest  in  the 
country,  especially  among  those  who  are  following  closely 
the  enormous  gold  developments  of  the  world  which  have 
recently  occurred.  An  examination  of  the  map  of  North 
America  will  show  at  a  glance  that  the  great  gold  field 
of  Alaska,  which  is  now  being  developed,  is  a  part  of  the 
same  general  line  of  mountains  which  supplied  the  enor- 
mous gold  production  of  California;    indeed,  the  same 


358  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

general  line  which  produced  the  gold  of  Peru,  of  Cen- 
tral America,  of  the  United  States  and  now  of  Alaska 
and  the  Klondike.  This  mountain  range  seems  to  cross 
from  the  North  American  continent  to  Asia  at  the  Bering 
straits,  and  the  extension  of  this  general  range  across 
into  Asia  covers  the  very  country  into  which  the  Russian 
government  is  pressing  gold  developments  and  the  gen- 
eral search  for  gold.  The  report  announces  that  a  Rus- 
sian expedition  has  discovered  12  gold  regions  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  sea  of  Okhotsk,  and  it  believes  that  the 
western  peninsula  of  Kamchatka  will  develop  gold  fields 
which  will,  as  the  dispatch  puts  it,  "be  a  second  Califor- 
nia." 

Marcus  Baker,  of  the  United  States  geological  survey, 
commenting  on  the  news  from  London,  said: 

"Whether  the  prediction  of  the  Russians  that  they  are 
to  develop  gold  fields  in  Kamchatka  which  will  rival  the 
early  history  of  our  California  gold  fields  is  to  be  realized 
or  not,  certainly  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  gold  of 
the  world  has  enormously  increased  and  is  now  increasing 
wonderfully.  There  are  two  distinct  gold  fields  to-day 
which  are  producing  gold  in  very  great  quantities,  South 
Africa  and  North  America.  The  Alaska  fields  are,  of 
course,  a  part  of  the  same  general  line  of  mountains 
which  developed  such  wonderful  gold  deposits  in  our  own 
territory  less  than  half  a  century  ago,  and  whether  the 
mountains  of  Kamchatka  and  Siberia  are  a  part  of  the 
same  general  system  or  not,  it  would  not  be  surprising  if 
these  reports  of  large  gold  deposits  there  should  also  be 
confirmed.  The  fact  is,  there  is  a  greater  incentive  to 
the  production  of  gold  to-day  than  ever  before. 

"There  are  two  or  three  reasons  for  this.  First, 
silver  is  so  cheap  that  there  is  less  incentive  for  its  produc- 
tion, and  the  people  who  had  formerly  given  their  atten- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  361 

tion  to  the  mining  of  silver  are  now  looking  for  new  gold 
fields;  second,  gold  mining  and  gold  production  becomes 
easier  every  year,  as  new  methods  develop  and  new  dis- 
coveries are  made.  Take  the  great  gold  fields  of  Cali- 
fornia, which  were  supposed  to  be  worked  out  years  ago ; 
the  cyanide  process  now  gives  promise  of  making  them 
again  productive,  and  it  is  quite  probable  that  it  will  be 
profitable  to  work  over  all  the  rejected  material  which 
was  thrown  away  by  the  men  who  covered  that  great 
gold  field  and  to  produce  from  it  great  quantities  of  gold. 
This  is  not  unlikely  to  be  the  case  further  south,  in  Mex- 
ico, Central  America  and  Peru  where  such  quantities  of 
gold  were  mined  many  years  ago.  Add  to  this  the  gold 
developments  of  South  Africa,  Australia,  North  America 
and  prospective  Siberia,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  the 
gold  production  of  the  world  is  more  than  keeping  pace 
with  the  growth  of  business.  As  everybody  knows,  the 
gold  production  of  the  world  has  steadily  increased  dur- 
ing the  past  few  years,  that  of  last  year  having  been 
greater  than  any  in  the  known  history  of  the  world,  while 
all  indications  now  point  to  a  still  greater  increased  pro- 
duction for  1897." 

Mr.  Baker's  remarks  that  the  gold  production  of  the 
world  has  increased  with  such  rapidity  suggests  some 
inquiry  upon  this  subject.  The  inquiry  shows  that  the 
gold  of  the  world  to-day  is  nearly  or  quite  three  times  as 
much  as  it  was  50  years  ago.  Mulhall,  who  has  been 
widely  quoted  in  the  papers  of  the  United  States  in  the 
past  few  weeks,  indicates  in  his  latest  dictionary  of  statis- 
tics that  the  amount  of  gold  in  the  world,  coined  and  un- 
coined, 50  years  ago,  amounted  to  less  than  $2,500,000,- 
000.  Taking  his  figures  for  1890  and  adding  the  produc- 
tion since  that  time,  it  would  appear  that  the  gold  of  the 
world  to-day,  coined  and  uncoined,  is  over  $7,000,000,- 


362  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

ooo,  being  nearly  or  quite  three  times  as  much  as  it  was 
50  years  ago.  Had  there  been  no  increase  in  the  popula- 
tion meantime  there  would  thus  be  three  times  as  much 
gold  for  each  person  now  as  there  was  half  a  century  ago. 
But  the  population  of  the  world  has  increased  50  per  cent 
in  that  time,  so  that  the  amount  of  gold  for  each  individ- 
ual is  therefore  about  twice  what  it  w^as  at  that  time.  This, 
however,  relates  to  gold  in  bulk  and  not  gold  money. 

A  further  study  of  statistics  shows  that  the  increase 
in  the  production  of  the  gold  which  is  coined  into  money 
has  been  as  great  as  the  increase  in  the  production  of 
the  metal  itself.  Fifty  years  ago  only  33  per  cent  of  the 
gold  in  the  world  was  coined ;  now,  66  per  cent  is  coined 
money.  So  it  appears  that  w^hile  the  amount  of  gold  in 
the  world  for  each  individual  has  been  doubled  in  50 
years,  the  proportion  of  that  gold  which  has  been  turned 
into  coin  has  also  been  doubled,  thus  making  the  gold 
money  of  the  world  four  times  as  much  per  individual 
as  it  was  50  years  ago. 

This  increase  in  gold,  coupled  with  the  increase  in  per- 
centage of  that  metal  which  is  coined  is  one  of  the 
important  facts  to  be  taken  into  consideration  in  the  de- 
termination of  the  cause  of  the  falling  off  in  the  demand 
for  silver  and  the  consequent  falling  ofif  in  its  price. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  363 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
A  MODEL  INDIAN  TOWN. 

LITTLE  CITY  of  Metlakahtla,  in  Alaska, 
is  owned  and  governed  entirely  by  Indians, 
and  it  has  a  history  that  is  not  paralleled 
in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  William  J. 
Jones,  who  has  been  sent  to  the  Klondike 
country  by  the  CHICAGO  RECORD, 
visited  the  Indians'  city  on  his  way  to  the 
gold  country  and  sent  back  a  letter,  describing  the  inter- 
esting community.    He  wrote: 

"Metlakahtla  is  nestled  on  the  east  side  of  Annette 
island  and  is  one  of  the  first  ports  of  call  on  the  south- 
east coast  of  Alaska.  From  two  mountains  with  frown- 
ing peaks  which  profile  the  clear  western  sky  comes  dash- 
ing down  from  their  snow-capped  summits  a  volume  of 
water  which  is  one  of  the  scenic  attractions  of  this  pic- 
turesque coast.  The  city  itself  is  in  an  advanced  state 
of  improvement,  and  the  inhabitants,  whose  ancestors 
some  forty  years  ago  were  blood-thirsty  savages,  have 
developed  a  remarkable  character  for  utilizing  the  mod- 
ern arts  of  civilization. 

"A  little  over  two  score  of  years  ago  the  Rev.  William 
Duncan,  representing  the  Church  of  England,  first  went 
among  this  tribe  of  Indians  and  sought  to  plant  the  first 
seeds  of  Christianity  in  their  savage  natures.  They  were 
then  living  on  the  Skeena  river,  in  British  territory,  and 
V.  hat  few  white  men  had  up  to  that  time  dared  to  invade 
their  territory  of  savagery  had  been  put  to  death.  It 
required  nearly  thirty  years  to  wean  them  from  the  teach- 


364  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

ings  of  their  ancestors  of  centuries  gone  by,  and  many 
times,  so  Mr.  Duncan  informed  me,  his  Hfe  was  in  great 
danger;  but  never  once  did  he  betray  the  sHghtest  sus- 
picion of  fear  for  his  own  or  Mrs.  Duncan's  safety.  By 
kind  acts,  rehgious  teachings  and  trusting  them  in  all 
things,  the  good  missionary  was  successful  in  winning 
the  whole  tribe  of  some  500  people  over  to  the  apprecia- 
tion of  the  advantages  of  religious  and  commercial  civil- 
ization. 

"At  the  opportune  time  he  applied  to  the  dominion 
government  for  the  exclusive  reservation  of  the  site 
occupied  by  the  tribe,  and  asked  for  protection  against 
the  encroachment  of  the  whites.  The  reque-st  was  refused 
and  the  proposition  was  laid  before  the  American  con- 
gress, and  one  of  the  last  official  acts  of  President  Arthur 
was  to  sign  a  bill  for  the  absolute  transfer  of  Annette 
island  to  the  tribe  of  Metlakahtla  Indians.  In  1888, 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Duncan,  the  Indians  moved 
to  the  island,  laid  out  and  began  the  occupation  of  the 
town  site  of  Metlakahtla.  What  was  then  a  wilderness 
is  now  a  thriving  little  city,  and  is  policed  and  governed 
in  much  the  same  manner  as  the  municipalities  of  the 
states.  An  Indian  magistrate,  elected  by  the  household- 
ers, adjusts  all  disputes  and  decrees  judgments  for  viola- 
tion of  any  of  the  city's  ordinances.  A  council  of  ten 
delegates,  which  is  elected  annually  by  popular  vote, 
adopts  the  laws  and  native  police  officers  enforce  its 
decrees.  Not  a  drop  of  spirits  is  allowed  on  the  island, 
and  there  is  only  one  man  of  this  colony  of  800  Indians 
who  uses  tobacco,  and  he  is  nearly  80  years  old. 

"White  people  are  discouraged  from  coming  here;  the 
Indians  want  to  be  left  alone  to  pursue  their  work.  A 
large  salmon  cannery  affords  employment  for  nearly  200 
people  in  both  canning  and  fishing,  and  every  depart- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS,  365 

menJ:  is  in  charge  of  an  experienced  Indian,  and  many 
of  them  are  exceptionally  well  trained  and  skillful  in 
attending  to  their  difificult  duties.  Last  year  they  sold 
over  18,000  cases  of  salmon  for  $3.25  a  case.  The  ma- 
chinery is  of  modern  pattern,  operated  by  steam  and 
managed  by  natives.  Close  by  is  the  sawmill,  which 
manufactures  a  high  grade  of  lumber,  and  has  a  capacity 
of  10,000  feet  a  day.  Scattered  throughout  the  city  are 
six  stores,  all  well  stocked  with  staple  articles  of  com- 
merce, and  it  is  particularly  noticeable  that  there  is  a 
general  lack  of  cheap  jewelry  or  catch-penny  Yankee 
notions.  In  all  of  the  stores  I  only  noticed  one  white 
shirt  for  sale,  and  it  was  marked  at  55  cents.  The  streets 
are  laid  ofif  on  straight  lines,  and  substantial  broad  side- 
walks lead  to  all  parts  of  the  city.  Each  family  lives  in  a 
neat  one  or  two  story  cottage,  neatly  painted,  and  in 
the  center  of  large-sized  lots,  in  which  grow  all  kinds 
of  vegetables,  flowers  and  house  plants.  The  dwellings 
are  painted  white,  and  the  rooms  are  as  comfortably  fur- 
nished as  the  majority  of  houses  in  more  civilized  com- 
munities. One  feature  in  particular  I  noticed  was  the 
large,  open  and  old-fashioned  fireplaces  that  were  so 
noticeable  in  the  times  succeeding  the  colonial  days. 

"A  large  school,  divided  into  three  departments,  two 
of  which  are  under  the  control  of  white  people,  and  the 
other — the  juvenile  class — is  taught  by  a  native,  furnishes 
the  necessary  educational  facilities.  The  average  daily 
attendance,  I  am  told,  is  about  ninety  pupils,  A  hand- 
some, large  church  building,  the  interior  of  which  is 
tastily  arranged,  and  with  a  seating  capacity  of  about 
600,  is  the  place  where  these  people  assemble  each  Sun- 
day for  worship.  One  of  the  attractive  features  of  this 
unique  community  is  the  native  band  of  thirty  pieces. 
The  music  is  good,  and  many  of  the  national  airs  are 


366  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

played  two  or  three  times  a  week.  The  leader  is  a  full- 
blooded  Indian  by  the  name  of  Ben  Halden,  and  is  24 
years  old.  He  can  play  a  tune  on  any  instrument  on  the 
island,  and  the  only  instruction  he  ever  received  was 
from  Mr.  Duncan.  The  string  band  is  exceptionally  good 
and  afifords  music  for  all  dances  and  entertainments.  An 
electric  plant  is  being  installed,  and  next  winter  every 
dwelling  will  be  supplied  with  artificial  illumination. 

"Happy  and  contented  as  these  people  are  in  their 
little  island  homes,  surrounded  with  all  the  necessary 
comforts  of  civilization,  it  has  not  been  their  province 
to  escape  from  the  attempted  enforcement,  or,  rather, 
encroachment  of  what  is  regarded  as  modern  civilization. 
Their  little  island  was  invaded  by  prospectors  in  their 
efiforts  to  find  gold,  and  some  few  miles  distant  rich  and 
valuable  quartz  ledges  were  discovered  and  at  once  a 
company  of  rich  men  was  formed  in  San  Francisco  to 
wrest  the  wealth  away  from  the  rightful  owners.  The 
good  guardian  of  the  community,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Duncan, 
went  to  Washington  and  told  the  president  about  his 
little  colony,  its  prosperous  condition,  and  asked  to  have 
their  island  freed  from  the  threatened  invasion  of  white 
men.  The  appeal  was  not  in  vain,  and  the  secretary  of 
the  interior  has  just  instructed  the  United  States  district 
attorney  of  Alaska  to  order  the  prospectors  to  vacate 
the  island  under  penalty  of  prosecution  for  trespassing. 

"The  founder  of  this  remarkable  little  colony,  and 
which  is  about  the  only  tribe  of  Indians  on  the  coast 
which  has  not  suffered  or  deteriorated  greatly  from  the 
effects  of  religious  contagion,  is  a  short,  little  old  man 
who  is  passing  down  the  shady  side  of  three-score  and 
ten  years.  His  eyes  are  bright,  his  step  elastic,  and  his 
whole  demeanor  denotes  the  vast  reserve  and  control 
over  an  abundance  of  will  power.     In  his  every  effort 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  367 

in  behalf  of  his  charges  he  is  sincere,  and  their  success 
parallels  his  own  happiness.  Already  he  realizes  the 
approach  of  the  first  golden  rays  of  the  sunset  of  his  exist- 
ence, and  is  now  planning  and  laying  out  the  work  for 
the  education  and  guidance  of  his  successor,  who  will 
soon  be  nominated." 

The  Episcopal  mission  at  Circle  City  recently  estab- 
lished a  hospital,  a  much-needed  institution  in  a  place 
where  every  man  is  supposed  to  be  for  himself  alone. 
Bishop  Rowe  of  the  Alaska  diocese,  recently  gave  some 
interesting  facts  about  the  field  of  mission  work  under 
his  charge.  The  bishop,  whose  official  residence  is  in 
Sitka,  personally  makes  the  round  of  all  the  stations  of 
the  interior,  that  he  may  get  a  better  understanding  of 
the  work,  which  for  the  greater  part  is  among  the  Indians. 

There  are  three  missions — St.  James,  Fort  Yukon  and 
Circle  City — that  administer  to  about  2,000  natives,  1,300 
of  whom  are  baptismal  members  of  the  church ;  and  there 
are  several  other  stations  besides  these.  Much  pains- 
taking work  has  been  done  in  ofifering  them  the  scripture 
in  a  way  that  they  can  understand.  Many  of  the  Indians 
can  read  in  their  own  language,  which,  as  printed,  con- 
sists of  a  literature  of  translations  of  the  bible,  prayer- 
book  and  hymn-book.  These  Indians  seem  particularly 
susceptible  to  religious  teaching.  At  Anvik,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  there  are  commodious,  well-built 
mission  buildings  in  a  beautiful  location.  The  Rev.  J.  W. 
Chapman  is  in  charge.  In  addition  to  religious  teaching 
there  is  a  day  and  boarding  school  that  has  made  notice- 
able progress  in  enlightening  the  people.  A  little  educa- 
tion seems  to  show  more  quickly  when  applied  to  an 
Indian  than  it  does  on  any  other  race.  It  shows  on  the 
surface.  It  smooths  out  the  wrinkles  on  his  forehead  as 
if  the  tangled  threads  of  life  had  been  set  aright.     He 


368  THE  CHICAGO  RECORD'S 

looks  much  better,  and  no  doubt  the  effect  is  far-reach- 
ing. 

The  impressive  form  of  the  Episcopal  service  is  ren- 
dered in  church,  with  some  additions,  in  that  the  cate- 
chetical part  is  repeated  over  again  in  the  Indian  lan- 
guage. The  responses  by  the  dark  portion  of  the  congre- 
gation are  solemnly  and  religiously  performed,  even  the 
little  children  giving  almost  painful  attention  and  lisping 
the  strange  words,  to  the  wonder  of  the  white  contingent. 
Then  as  best  they  can  they  follow  somewhat  laboriously 
in  the  singing. 

A  thousand  miles  is  as  nothing  in  Bishop  Rowe's  juris- 
diction. It  is  more  than  that  far  from  Anvik  to  Circle 
City,  and  yet  they  are  spoken  of  as  neighbors.  The  Rev. 
J.  L.  Prevost  has  charge  spiritually  of  the  few  hundred 
miles  of  the  river,  which  includes  the  mining  towns  and 
the  post  at  the  mouth  of  Tanana  river,  which  latter  place 
is  called  Fort  Adams;  the  mission  is  designated  St. 
James.  Mr.  Prevost  has  made  that  station  his  residence 
for  two  or  three  years.  A  boarding  school  for  natives 
is  there,  and  among  other  enlightening  influences  he  has 
started  a  small  newspaper,  which  is  issued  red-hot  from 
the  press  twice  a  year,  and  it  is  a  very  interesting  little 
paper,  for  it  contains  the  news  of  the  country — something 
of  all  that  is  going  on — from  Herschel  island  to  the 
mines  and  from  Bering  sea  to  Mackenzie  river.  Mr.  Pre- 
vost has  a  small  steamboat  at  his  disposal  and  is  enabled 
to  move  thoroughly  over  his  field.  The  work  of  relig- 
ious teaching  at  Fort  Yukon  for  the  most  part  has  been 
deputed  to  a  native  catechist. 

Other  protestant  denominations  have  missions  on  the 
Yukon  and  along  the  coast  off  Alaska,  notably  the  Pres- 
byterians and  the  Methodists,  and  besides  these  the  Cath- 
olics and  the  Greek  church  have  long  had  a  strong  foot- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  371 

hold  among  the  Eskimos  and  Indians.  There  are  several 
Catholic  schools  that  have  done  much  for  the  natives. 

The  work  of  the  protestant  missionaries  will  be  facili- 
tated by  the  introduction  of  the  little  Siberian  reindeer, 
provided  the  experiment  proves  a  success,  which  now 
seems  likely,  although  it  will  be  rather  slow  in  practical 
benefits.  The  Eskimos  will  need  to  be  patiently  taught 
new  traits.  Their  natural  inclination  is  to  kill  and  eat. 
This  likewise  is  the  ruling  passion  of  their  dogs,  and 
both  must  be  trained  and  restrained. 

The  majority  of  the  protestant  missionaries  are  mar- 
ried, and,  of  course,  have  their  families  with  them.  There 
are  those,  especially  of  the  Church  of  England  missions, 
who  have  almost  grown  old  in  this  particular  field.  Bishop 
Bompas  of  the  Selkirk  diocese  has  been  in  the  country 
since  the  establishment  of  the  mission,  thirty  years  ago. 
It  is  said  he  can  take  a  slab  of  dried  salmon  in  each  pocket 
and  for  a  few  days  out-travel  an  Indian  courier.  And 
the  worthy  bishop,  while  extending  that  sway  of  the 
gospel,  has  taken  some  thought  at  odd  times  of  worldly 
matters.     His  wealth  is  estimated  at  $250,000. 

Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  the  philanthropist  of  Alaskan 
fame,  has  been  for  nearly  twenty  years  identified  with  the 
country,  and  he  has  also  become  a  wealthy  man  and 
owns  valuable  property  in  the  United  States.  The 
Jesuits  enter  the  field,  of  course,  to  stay.  Father  Bar- 
num,  a  brilhant  man,  when  asked  when  he  was  coming 
back  to  the  world  again,  said: 

"Oh,  never,  my  child,  to  stay  any  length  of  time.  A 
Jesuit,  you  know,  volunteers  for  life.  My  place  is  among 
the  Eskimos." 

A  story  is  told  of  two  missionaries,  both  nominally  of 
the  same  faith,  who  were  established  at  Point  Barrow, 
which  is  the  very  northernmost  point  of  land  in  Alaska, 
19 


372  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

jutting  away  out  into  the  Arctic  ocean,  and  almost  within 
signahng  distance  of  the  north  pole.  At  the  beginning 
of  winter,  when  the  nearest  other  white  men  were  500 
miles  away,  they  fell  out  with  each  other,  and  both  got 
so  mad  that  they  wouldn't  speak;  and  it  was  for  keeps, 
too.  During  the  long  winter  they  lived  in  the  same 
house,  but  neither  ever  said  a  word  or  paid  any  attention 
to  the  other  any  more  than  if  he  was  not  there.  They 
read  a  good  deal  and  stared  at  the  wall  right  straight 
past  each  other,  and  when  they  got  very  lonesome  they 
went  out  and  talked  to  the  Eskimos.  When  they  came 
back  and  met  again  they  didn't  even  recognize  each 
other's  presence  so  far  as  to  look  disgusted.  Time  passed 
very  slowly  with  them.  In  fact,  the  missionary  that  came 
away  in  the  boat  when  summer  came  admitted  that  it  was 
the  longest  winter  he  ever  experienced. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  HTd 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
GAME  IN  THE  KLONDIKE  COUNTRY. 

A]\IE  is  not  so  plentiful  in  the  known 
gold  placer  area  of  Alaska  as  an  en- 
thusiastic Nimrod  might  wish.  Still  it 
is  not  necessary  for  everybody  to  feed 
on  dog  meat  on  the  Upper  Yukon  river 
and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Klondike  gold 
field  in  winter,  as  a  member  of  a  party 
which  was  up  there  said  several  of  the  members  did.  He 
refused  the  dish,  but  at  the  same  time  he  acknowledged 
that  more  than  once  after  food  had  been  thrown  to  the 
dogs,  literally  speaking,  he  had  snatched  it  away  from 
them  before  they  could  eat  it.  Fish  which  small  worms 
had  appropriated  to  themselves  he  did  not  hesitate  to  eat, 
he  said,  and  was  glad  to  get  it. 

That  is  one  of  the  great  troubles  which  will  be  encoun- 
tered by  persons  visiting  the  gold  field.  The  farther  up 
the  Yukon  one  travels  the  scarcer  becomes  the  food  sup- 
ply, until  in  the  Klondike  region  and  thereabouts  it  ceases 
almost  entirely.  There  is  practically  no  large  game,  with 
the  exception  of  one  or  two  moose  and  reindeer,  which 
have  become  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  herd  and 
wandered  out  there.  So  that  prospectors  who  intend 
visiting  the  field  should  not  rely  in  the  least  on  the  re- 
sources of  the  country  to  feed  them.  There  may  be 
a  few  rabbits,  ducks,  and  geese  in  the  spring,  which  dis- 
appear very  quickly.  These  are  not  sufficient  to  supply 
even  the  wants  of  the  few  natives  who  wander  nomad- 
ically  about  the  region. 


374  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

Lower  down  the  Yukon,  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year, 
there  is  abundance  of  game,  probably  from  400  to  500 
miles  from  the  Klondike  river.  The  moose  is  about  the 
largest  of  the  mammals,  while  the  reindeer  is  fairly  plenti- 
ful. As  the  population  has  increased  the  game  has  cor- 
respondingly decreased,  and  in  the  winter  the  Indians 
there  have  had  hard  time  securing  food,  as  they  are 
very  improvident.  During  the  season  when  it  is  abun- 
dant they  never  think  of  laying  by  a  supply.  There  are 
beavers  on  the  streams  and  various  kinds  of  deer,  bear, 
and  caribou.  In  the  winter  months  these  go  south  and 
disappear  almost  entirely.  The  polar  bear  is  found  sev- 
eral degrees  farther  north,  never  appearing  in  that  vi- 
cinity. 

In  the  mountain  streams  which  feed  the  Yukon  river, 
up  toward  its  head,  near  the  Kathul  mountain,  there  are 
mountain  trout  of  good  size  and  flavor.  Many  of  these 
streams  dry  up  in  the  winter,  as  they  are  fed  by  glaciers, 
which,  of  course,  in  cold  weather  are  frozen  entirely.  The 
salmon  is  found  in  the  Yukon,  but  only  lower  down,  to- 
ward St.  Michael.  Occasionally  they  are  caught  high  up 
on  the  Yukon,  but  the  water  is  rather  cold  for  them. 
There  is  a  sort  of  fish  known  as  the  white  fish  which  is 
found  near  the  Klondike  river,  and  is  said  to  be  excellent 
eating.  It  ranges  in  size  about  the  same  as  our  black 
bass,  and  is  one  of  the  chief  mainstays  of  the  Indians.  In 
winter,  if  it  is  not  too  cold,  holes  are  cut  in  the  ice  and 
the  fish  pulled  out  by  means  of  bone  hooks.  They  are 
more  plentiful  than  any  other  kind,  and  the  ice-cold 
water  appears  to  be  their  natural  habitat. 

Early  in  the  spring  water  fowl,  such  as  ducks,  geese, 
and  swan,  put  in  an  appearance,  but  they  do  not  tarry 
long,  and  wend  their  way  after  a  stay  of  only  a  few  days. 
They  are  very  plentiful  when  they  do  appear,  and  the 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  375 

natives  kill  them  by  hundreds.  The  trouble  is,  however, 
that  things  of  the  kind  do  not  last  as  they  do  in  warmer 
climates. 

Reindeer  formerly  were  seen  in  very  large  numbers 
on  the  Yukon,  some  two  or  three  hundred  miles  from 
where  the  Klondike  flows  into  it,  and  a  gentleman  who 
spent  two  or  three  winters  there  several  years  ago  said 
recently  that  he  had  seen  a  herd  of  at  least  5,000 
cross  the  river  on  the  ice  in  one  day.  He  also  saw  moose 
and  caribou  in  herds  of  large  number,  but  such  an 
occurrence  is  an  unusual  rather  than  a  common  one. 

William  Ogilvie  had  this  to  say  in  his  report  to  the 
Canadian  government  in  regard  to  the  animals  and  fish 
found  in  the  Yukon  district: 

"Game  is  not  now  as  abundant  as  before  mining  be- 
gan, and  it  is  difficult,  in  fact  impossible,  to  get  any 
close  to  the  river.  The  Indians  have  to  ascend  the  tribu- 
tary streams  ten  to  twenty  miles  to  get  anything  worth 
going  after.  Here  on  the  uplands  vast  herds  of  caribou 
still  wander,  and  when  the  Indians  encounter  a  herd  they 
allow  very  few  to  escape,  even  though  they  do  not  require 
the  meat.  When  they  have  plenty  they  are  not  at  all 
provident,  and  consequently  are  often  in  want  when  game 
is  scarce.  They  often  kill  animals  which  they  know  are 
so  poor  as  to  be  useless  for  food,  just  for  the  love  of 
slaughter. 

"An  Indian  who  was  with  me  one  day  saw  two  caribou 
passing  and  wanted  me  to  shoot  them.  I  explained  to 
him  that  we  had  plenty,  and  that  I  would  not  destroy 
them  uselessly,  but  this  did  not  accord  with  his  ideas.  He 
felt  displeased  because  I  did  not  kill  them  myself  or  lend 
him  my  rifle  for  the  purpose,  and  remarked  in  as  good 
English  as  he  could  command:  T  like  to  kill  whenever 
I  see  it,' 


376  THE   CHICAGO    RECORDS 

"Some  years  ago  moose  were  very  numerous  along 
the  river,  but  now  they  are  very  seldom  seen,  except 
at  some  distance  back  of  it.  Early  in  the  winter  of  1887- 
88  the  Indians  remained  around  the  miners'  camps,  and 
subsisted  by  begging  until  all  further  charity  was  refused. 
Even  this  for  some  time  did  not  stir  them,  and  it  was  not 
until  near  Christmas  that  sheer  hunger  drove  them  ofif 
to  hunt.  One  party  went  up  the  Tat-on-duc  some  fifteen 
or  twenty  miles,  and  in  a  short  time  was  revelling  in 
game,  especially  caribou.  The  other  party  did  not  suc- 
ceed for  some  time  in  getting  anything,  although  a  large 
district  was  searched  over,  but  finally  went  up  Coal  creek 
about  twenty  miles,  and  there  killed  eighteen  moose  in 
one  day.  They  brought  in  two  thousand  pounds  of  the 
meat  to  the  post,  and  sold  it  for  ten  cents  per  pound 
to  the  miners,  with  whom  it  was  in  great  demand  on 
account  of  the  prevalence  of  scurvy  in  the  camp.  A 
boom  in  mining  would  soon  exterminate  the  game  in  the 
district  along  the  river. 

"There  are  two  species  of  caribou  in  the  country;  one, 
the  ordinary  kind,  found  in  most  parts  of  the  northwest, 
and  said  to  much  resemble  the  reindeer;  the  other,  called 
the  wood  caribou,  a  much  larger  and  more  beautiful  ani- 
mal. Except  that  the  antlers  are  much  smaller,  it  appears 
to  me  to  resemble  the  elk  or  wapiti.  The  ordinary  cari- 
bou runs  in  herds,  often  numbering  hundreds.  It  is 
easily  approached,  and,  when  fired  at,  jumps  around 
awhile  as  though  undecided  what  to  do;  it  then  runs  a 
short  distance,  but  just  as  likely  towards  the  hunter  as 
from  him,  stops  again,  and  so  on  for  a  number  of  times. 
At  last,  after  many  of  them  have  been  killed,  the  remain- 
der start  on  a  continuous  run,  and  probably  do  not  stop 
until  they  have  covered  twenty  or  thirty  miles.  When  the 
Indians  find  a  herd  they  surround  it,  gradually  contract- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  377 

ing  the  circle  thus  formed,  when  the  animals,  being  too 
timid  to  escape  by  a  sudden  rush,  are  slaughtered  whole- 
sale. 

"There  are  four  species  of  bear  found  in  the  district — 
the  grizzly,  brown,  black,  and  a  small  kind,  locally  known 
as  the  'silver  tip,'  the  latter  being  gray  in  color,  with  a 
white  throat  and  beard,  whence  its  name.  It  is  said  to 
be  fierce,  and  not  to  wait  to  be  attacked,  but  to  attack  on 
sight.  I  had  not  the  pleasure  of  seeing  any,  but  heard 
many  yarns  about  them,  some  of  which,  I  think,  were 
hunters'  tales.  It  appears,  however,  that  miners  and 
Indians,  unless  traveling  in  numbers,  or  specially  well 
armed,  give  them  as  wide  a  berth  as  they  conveniently 
can.  Wolves  are  not  plentiful.  A  few  of  the  common 
gray  species  only  are  killed,  the  black  being  very  scarce. 

"The  Arctic  rabbit  or  hare  is  sometimes  found,  but 
they  are  not  numerous.  There  is  a  curious  fact  in  con- 
nection with  the  ordinary  hare  or  rabbit  which  I  have 
observed,  but  of  which  I  have  never  yet  seen  any  satisfac- 
tory explanation.  Their  numbers  vary  from  a  very  few 
to  myriads  in  periods  of  seven  years.  For  about  three 
years  one  may  travel  for  days  without  seeing  more  than 
a  sign  of  them;  then  for  two  years  they  are  numerous, 
and  increase  for  two  years  more,  until  finally  the  country 
is  alive  with  them,  when  they  begin  to  disappear;  and  in 
a  few  months  there  is  none  to  be  seen.  If  it  is  an  epi- 
demic that  carries  them  off,  it  is  strange  that  their  car- 
casses are  never  observed  in  any  number. 

"It  appears  the  martens  are  also  subject  to  a  periodical 
increase  and  decrease,  and  in  this  case  a  satisfactory 
explanation  of  the  cause  is  also  wanting. 

"The  principal  furs  procured  in  the  district  are  the 
silver-gray  and  black  fox,  the  number  of  which  bears  a 
greater  ratio  to  the  number  of  red  foxes  than  in  any 


378  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

Other  part  of  the  country.  The  red  fox  is  very  common, 
and  a  species  called  the  'blue'  is  abundant  near  the  coast. 
Marten,  or  sable,  are  also  numerous,  as  are  lynx;  but 
otter  are  scarce,  and  beaver  almost  unknown. 

"It  is  probable  that  the  value  of  the  gray  and  black  fox 
skins  taken  out  of  the  country  more  than  equals  in  value 
all  the  other  furs.  I  could  get  no  statistics  concerning 
this  trade  for  obvious  reasons.  The  mountain  sheep  (big- 
horn), and  mountain  goats  exist  everywhere  in  the  terri- 
tory; but,  as  they  generally  frequent  the  sides  of  the 
highest  mountains  they  are  seldom  seen  from  the  river. 

"Birds  are  scarce.  A  few  ravens  were  seen  along  the 
river,  and  three  or  four  remained  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
boundary  all  winter.  They  were  generally  more  active 
and  noisy  on  stormy  days  than  at  other  times,  and  their 
hoarse  croaks  had  a  dismal  sound  amid  the  roar  of  the 
elements. 

"A  few  magpies  were  seen  near  Nordenskiold  river, 
and  a  few  white-headed  eagles  were  also  noticed. 

"During  the  winter,  near  the  boundary,  numbers  of 
small  birds,  somewhat  resembling  the  'chickadee,'  were 
seen,  but  they  were  much  larger  and  had  not  the  same 
note.  Of  owls,  not  a  specimen  was  met  with  anywhere. 
Partridges  were  very  scarce,  only  half  a  dozen  or  so 
of  the  ordinary  kind  being  noticed;  but  at  the  head  of 
the  Tat-on-duc  and  Porcupine,  ptarmigan  were  abun- 
dant. Wild  geese  and  ducks  are  plentiful  in  their  season, 
and  of  ducks  there  are  many  more  species  than  I  have 
seen  in  any  other  part  of  the  territory.  Most  of  these 
were  observed  on  the  head  of  the  Porcupine;  but,  having 
no  means  of  preserving  the  skins,  I  had  to  come  away 
without  specimens. 

"A  very  beautiful  species  of  loon  or  diver  was  met 
with  on  the  Porcupine.    It  is  smaller  than  the  great  north- 


BOOK  FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  379 

ern  diver,  but  marked  much  the  same  on  the  body,  the 
difference  being  principally  in  the  head  and  neck — the 
bill  is  sharper  and  finer  and  the  head  smaller;  but  its 
chief  distinguishing  feature  is  the  neck,  which  is  covered 
with  long,  beautiful  dun-colored  down  for  more  than  half 
its  length  from  the  head  downward.  I  tried  to  kill  one 
so  as  to  get  the  skin  as  a  specimen,  but  after  I  had  fired 
three  times  at  close  range  with  heavy  shot  it  seemed  as 
lively  as  if  I  had  not  fired  at  all.  I  then  killed  it  with  my 
rifle,  but  the  bullet  so  tore  and  mangled  the  skin  that  it 
was  useless. 

"With  the  exception  of  a  small  species,  locally  called 
the  'Arctic'  trout,  fish  are  not  numerous  in  the  district. 
Schwatka  calls  this  trout  the  'grayling,'  but  from  the 
descriptions  and  drawings  of  that  fish  which  I  have  seen 
this  is  a  different  fish.  It  seldom  exceeds  ten  inches  in 
length,  and  has  fins  very  large  for  its  size,  which  give  it, 
when  in  motion,  the  appearance  of  having  wings.  Its 
dorsal  fin  is  ver}'  large,  being  fully  half  the  length  of  the 
body,  and  very  high.  It  is  of  a  brownish  gray  color  on 
the  back  and  sides,  and  lighter  on  the  belly.  It  is  found 
in  large  numbers  in  the  upper  part  of  the  river,  especially 
where  the  current  is  swift,  and  takes  any  kind  of  bait 
greedily. 

"The  flesh  is  somewhat  soft  and  not  very  palatable. 
Lake  trout  are  caught  in  the  lakes,  but  as  far  I  saw  are 
not  numerous  nor  of  large  size.  They  take  a  troll  bait 
readily,  and  a  few  were  caught  in  that  way  coming  down 
the  lakes,  but  the  largest  did  not  weigh  more  than  six  or 
seven  pounds.  Salmon  came  up,  I  was  assured  by  sev- 
eral Indians,  natives  of  the  district,  as  far  as  Lake  Le- 
Barge,  and  are  never  found  above  it,  but  Dr.  Dawson 
reports  their  dead  bodies  along  the  river  for  some  miles 
above  the  canyon.    I  mention  this  to  show  the  unreliabil- 


380  THE   CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

ity  of  information  received  from  the  natives,  who  fre- 
quently neither  understand  nor  are  understood. 

"On  the  way  down  salmon  were  first  seen  twenty  or 
twenty-five  miles  above  Five-Finger  rapids.  One  can 
easily  trace  their  passage  through  the  water  by  the  slight 
ripple  they  make  on  the  surface  and,  with  care,  they  can 
be  taken  by  gently  placing  a  scoop  net  in  their  way  and 
lifting  them  out  when  they  enter  it.  After  coming  up  the 
river  two  thousand  miles  they  are  poor,  and  would  not 
realize  much  in  the  market.  At  the  boundary,  in  the  early 
winter  months,  the  Indians  caught  some  that  were  frozen 
in  on  small  streams,  and  fed  them  to  their  dogs.  Some 
of  these  I  saw;  they  were  poor  and  spent." 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  381 

CHAPTER   XXIV. 
KNEW  YUKON  DISTRICT  YEARS  AGO. 

rs^    ELIABLE  information  comes  from  Prof. 

H^^^BW        James  Dryden  of  the  Agricultural  Col- 

H^'^'"^[i^  \\       ^^fe^  °^  Utah  to  the  effect  that  the  Cana- 

Kiv-^'v    iWi  ^^^^  parliament  knew  of  the  gold  mines 

.~'W '-.-'' ''Wj  ^^  the  Yukon  district  some  years  ago. 

^^i^^^*^:^'  Prof.  Dryden  acted  as   secretary  of  a 

f'l^^y:^^!\  select  committee  of  the  Canadian  par- 

'     '  liament  in  1888.     This  committee  was 

appointed   to  investigate  the  mineral  resources  of  the 

N^orthwest  territory.     The   report  of  the  committee   is 

printed  in  a  volume  of  800  pages,  illustrated  with  maps, 

and  the  Klondike  river  does  not  appear  in  any  of  the 

maps. 

But  that  part  of  the  Yukon  district  now  known  as 
the  Klondike  figured  extensively  in  the  investigation. 
Xow,  when  every  source  of  information  bearing  in  any 
way  on  the  gold-producing  area  of  the  Yukon  river 
is  being  placed  under  tribute,  this  report  has  assumed 
an  importance  not  anticipated  by  the  committee  which 
made  it. 

The  report  is  of  peculiar  interest  in  that  it  deals  largely 
with  the  mineral  resources  of  the  Mackenzie  river  basin, 
for  it  is  highly  probable  that  this  mighty  stream  will 
carry  many  Klondikers  toward  the  Arctic  circle  next 
summer. 

Prof.  Dryden,  in  giving  a  synopsis  of  the  report,  writes 
as  follows: 

"As  might  be  expected,  the  investigation,  as  it  related 


382  THE  CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

to  mineral  resources,  was  less  satisfactory  than  in  other 
directions;  gold  fields  are  not  discovered  by  commit- 
tees. But  very  much  was  elicited.  Before  proceeding 
to  give  more  detailed  information,  let  me  quote  the  find- 
ings, or  conclusions,  of  the  committee  in  regard  to  the 
mineral  resources: 

"  'Of  the  mines  of  this  vast  region  little  is  known  of 
that  part  east  of  the  Mackenzie  river  and  north  of  Great 
Slave  lake.  Of  the  western  affluents  of  the  Mackenzie 
enough  is  known  to  show  that  on  the  headwaters  of  the 
Peace,  Liard  and  Peel  rivers  there  are  from  150,000  to 
200,000  square  miles  which  may  be  considered  aurifer- 
ous, while  Canada  possesses  west  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains a  metalliferous  area,  principally  of  gold-yielding 
rocks,  1,300  miles  in  length,  with  an  average  breadth  of 
400  to  500  miles,  giving  an  area  far  greater  than  that  of 
the  similar  mining  districts  of  the  neighboring  republic. 

"  'In  addition  to  these  auriferous  deposits,  gold  has 
been  found  on  the  west  shore  of  Hudson's  bay,  and  has 
been  said  to  exist  in  certain  portions  of  the  Barren 
grounds.  Silver  on  the  Upper  Liard  and  Peace  rivers, 
copper  upon  the  Coppermine  river,  which  may  be  con- 
nected with  an  eastern  arm  of  Great  Bear  lake  by  a  tram- 
way of  forty  miles;  iron,  graphite,  ochre,  brick  and  pot- 
tery clay,  mica,  gypsum,  lime  and  sandstone,  sand  for 
glass  and  molding,  and  asphaltum,  are  all  known  to 
exist,  while  the  petroleum  area  is  so  extensive  as  to 
justify  the  belief  that  eventually  it  will  supply  the  larger 
part  of  this  continent  and  be  shipped  from  Churchill 
or  some  more  northern  Hudson's  bay  port  to  England. 

"  'Salt  and  sulphur  deposits  are  less  extensive,  but  the 
former  is  found  in  crystals  equal  in  purity  to  the  best 
rock  salt,  and  in  highly  saline  springs,  while  the  latter 
is  found  in  the  form  of  pyrites,  and  the  fact  that  these 


BOOK   FOR   GOLD-SEEKERS.  383 

petroleum  and  salt  deposits  occur  mainly  near  the  line 
of  division  between  deep  water  navigation  and  that  fitted 
for  lighter  craft,  gives  them  a  possible  great  commercial 
value.  The  extensive  coal  and  lignite  deposits  of  the 
lower  Mackenzie  and  elsewhere  will  be  found  of  great 
value  when  the  question  of  reducing  its  iron  ores  and 
the  transportation  of  the  products  of  this  vast  region 
have  to  be  solved  by  steam  sea-going  or  lighter  river 
craft.' 

"Some  of  the  testimony  upon  which  these  conclusions 
were  based  is  highly  interesting,  though  the  investiga- 
tion, of  course,  covered  the  whole  basin  of  the  Mac- 
kenzie, and  only  incidentally  of  the  Yukon.  But  there 
is  also  valuable  testimony  showing  the  great  auriferous 
value  of  the  upper  waters  of  the  Yukon.  Hitherto  that 
great  country  up  there  was  only  of  value  as  a  fur  pre- 
serve; that  has  been  its  chief,  if  not  only,  commercial 
value  in  the  past.  The  great  the  'Honorable  Hudson's 
Bay  company'  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade,  and 
its  policy  has  been  to  keep  the  country  in  the  dark.  They 
at  one  time  owned  it  by  grant  from  England.  They  have 
forts  established  all  down  the  ]\Iackenzie  and  other  im- 
portant rivers,  where  they  purchase  the  furs  by  barter 
from  the  Indians,  and  the  trade  has  run  up  to  several 
million  dollars  a  year.  These  traders  were  mostly  Eng- 
lish and  Scotch  'gentlemen's'  sons,  many  of  them  mar- 
rying Indian  girls  or  French  half-breeds  and  spending 
their  lives  in  the  great  northern  seclusion,  until  retired 
in  old  age  by  the  company.  Some  of  these  men  were 
examined  by  the  committee.  They  were  very  reticent 
about  the  fur  trade,  but  told  what  they  knew  about  the 
mineral  and  other  resources  of  the  country.  At  some 
of  these  forts  there  are  English  church  and  Roman  Cath- 
olic missions  established,  and  a  few  missionaries  were 


384  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

examined,  and  gave  valuable  testimony  in  regard  to  the 
great  resources  of  the  country.  Dr.  George  M.  Daw- 
son, chief,  and  Dr.  Robert  Bell  and  Prof.  Macoun  of  the 
Canadian  geological  survey,  and  others,  who  had  tra- 
versed the  country,  also  testified. 

"Speaking  of  the  mineral  resources,  Isadore  Glut, 
O.  M.  I.,  bishop  of  Arindele,  said:  'There  is  gold  in  the 
sandbanks  of  the  Peace  river,  and  in  considerable  quan- 
tities, but  during  the  winter  and  in  high  water  it  can- 
not be  mined.  The  miners  make  there  from  $15  to  $20 
per  day.  There  is  copper,  and  one  river  bears  the  name 
of  Coppermine.  It  is  found  there  in  great  pieces.  I  have 
seen  little  crosses  made  of  it  by  the  savages  themselves 
when  they  were  not  able  to  have  other  metal.  Sulphur 
abounds  in  several  places.  I  have  seen  it  on  the  Clear- 
water river,  and  above  all  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Great 
Slave  lake.  It  is  there  in  such  quantities  that  the  odor 
is  annoying  to  those  who  pass  by.  Near  Fort  Smith 
there  in  a  salt  mine  which  is  probably  the  most  beauti- 
ful and  the  most  abundant  in  the  universe.  There  is  a 
veritable  mountain  of  salt.  By  digging  a  little  in  the 
earth,  from  six  inches  to  a  foot,  rock  salt  can  be  found 
there.  In  addition  to  that  there  are  salt  springs,  where 
during  the  winter  the  salt  runs  from  these  springs 
and  forms  little  hills  of  salt.  You  have  only  to 
shovel  and  you  can  gather  a  fine  salt,  pure  and  clean. 
On  the  borders  of  the  Peace  river  stones  are  found 
v.'hich  are  sufficiently  precious  to  make  rings  of  them. 
I  have  seen  gypsum  along  the  Mackenzie  and  a  little 
below  Fort  Norman.  '■''  *  *  In  the  Peace  river  and 
the  Liard  river  certainly  there  is  gold  in  large  quan- 
tities. It  is  found  in  the  sandbars,  and  I  fancy  that  mines 
will  be  discovered  in  the  Rocky  mountains  and  that  the 
gold  is  carried  from  that  part  the  same  as  in   British 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  385 

Columbia,  on  the  other  side  of  the  mountains.  I  should 
imagine,  therefore,  that  there  is  considerable  gold  in 
the  Rocky  mountains,' 

"Dr.  Dawson,  who  made  geological  explorations  in 
the  upper  Yukon  region,  testified  as  follows:  'With 
regard  to  the  gold  on  the  Liard  river,  which  is  a  tribu- 
tary of  the  Mackenzie,  I  may  state  further  that  remuner- 
ative bars  have  been  worked  east  of  the  country  down 
toward  the  Mackenzie.  The  whole  appearance  of  this 
country  leads  to  the  belief  that  important  mineral  de- 
posits will  be  found  in  it,  besides  those  placer  mines. 
There  are  large  quantities  of  quartz  ledges  along  the 
rivers  in  many  places  on  the  Liard  river;  half  the  river 
gravel  is  composed  of  quartz  and  the  whole  country  is 
full  of  quartz  veins,  some  of  which  are  likely  to  yield 
valuable  minerals.' 

"Q.     'Is  it  a  gold-bearing  quartz?' 

"A.  'Yes,  because  we  find  gold  in  the  bars,  though 
not,  so  far  as  I  have  discovered,  in  the  loose  quartz.  In 
fact,  the  whole  country  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Liard 
and  running  across  to  the  Yukon  forms  part  of  the 
metalliferous  belt  which  runs  from  Alexico  to  Alaska 
and  includes  a  great  area  of  that  country,  which  is  as 
likely  to  be  rich  in  minerals  as  any  portion  of  that  metal- 
liferous belt.  We  should  remember  that  in  British  Co- 
lumbia and  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon  we  have 
from  1,200  to  1,300  miles  of  that  metalliferous  belt  of  the 
west  coast.  This  is  almost  precisely  the  same  length 
of  that  belt  contained  in  the  United  States,  and  I  think 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  eventually  it  will 
be  found  susceptible  of  an  equal  development  from  a 
mining  point  of  view.  From  circumstances  to  which 
I  need  not  now  refer,  it  has  so  far  been  more  developed 
in  the  United  States  than  on  this  side  of  the  line.' 


386  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

"Q.  'What  is  the  average  width  of  that  belt  of  1,200 
or  1,300  miles?' 

"A.  'About  400  miles,  on  the  average.  Fort  Selkirk, 
or  the  ruins  of  Fort  Selkirk,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lewes 
river,  which  is  one  of  the  main  branches  of  the  Yukon, 
is  about  1,000  miles  due  north  of  Victoria,  without  tak- 
ing into  account  ten  degrees  of  longitude  which  it  is 
west,  but  it  gives  an  idea  of  the  depth  of  the  country 
which  is  worth  remarking.  You  find  a  country  here 
1,000  miles  north  of  Victoria  in  which  there  is  no  doubt 
you  can  still  grow  barley  and  hardy  cereals,  a  distance 
as  nearly  as  possible  identical  with  the  whole  width  of 
the  United  States  on  the  Pacific  coast  from  the  49th 
parallel  to  Mexico,  yet  at  Fort  Selkirk  we  are  still  750 
or  800  miles  from  the  Arctic  ocean — nearly  twice  as  far 
from  the  Arctic  ocean  as  we  are  here  in  Ottawa  from  the 
Atlantic' 

"Q.  'That  would  make  a  square  area  of  520,000  miles. 
Is  that  what  the  committee  are  to  understand?' 

"A.  'That  will  express  the  area  of  the  metalliferous 
belt  in  a  general  way  and  may  be  taken  as  a  minimum 
figure.  This  Yukon  country  was  first  prospected  in  1880 
by  miners  who  came  across  by  this  Chilkoot  pass.  Since 
then  a  yearly  increasing  number  of  miners  has  been 
going  in.  In  1887,  this  last  summer,  there  were  about 
250  men,  nearly  100  of  whom  are  wintering  at  Forty- 
Mile  creek,  near  the  international  boundaiy.  *  *  * 
The  gold  which  was  taken  out  of  that  country  last  sum- 
mer, not  counting  the  Cassiar  country  to  the  south,  but 
merely  the  Yukon  district,  was  estimated  by  the  miners 
at  $70,000,  but  that  is  a  very  rough  estimate  indeed,  be- 
cause there  is  no  way  of  checking  it  except  by  allowing 
so  much  per  man  on  the  average.  There  is  an  almost 
unprecedented  length  of  river  bars  from  which  gold  is 


BOOK   FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  2:JD 

obtained  in  that  country.  I  have  not  tried  to  estimate 
it,  but  here  and  there  on  nearly  all  those  rivers  gold  i.^ 
found  in  paying  quantities.  The  gold-bearing  river  bars 
must  be  reckoned  in  the  aggregate  by  thousands  of 
miles  in  length.' 

"O.  'All  those  rivers,  meaning  the  Yukon  and  ils 
branches  and  the  Liard  and  its  branches?' 

"A.     'Yes.' 

"Though  the  Coppermine  river  lies  east  of  tlie  Mac- 
kenzie, and  far  from  the  Yukon,  it  may  be  interesting 
to  give  here  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Dawson  in  regard  to 
copper  in  that  river.  He  said,  speaking  of  the  Copper- 
mine river  particularly,  that  'there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  there  is  a  repetition  along  that  river  and  in  its 
vicinity  of  those  rocks  which  contain  copper  on  Lake 
Superior  and  which  have  proved  so  rich  there.  But 
that  region  seems  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  pros- 
pector at  present.' 

"Enough  has  been  said,  I  take  it,  to  show  that  there  is 
a  country  up  north  rich  in  mineral  resources,  and  the 
riches  are  not,  by  any  means,  confined  to  one  little  trib- 
utary of  the  Yukon.  That  the  country  is  rich  in  mhi- 
erals,  that  it  covers  an  empire  in  extent,  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe,  how  rich  no  one  can  tell.  There  has 
been  profitable  placer  mining  at  Forty-Mile  creek,  near 
the  Klondike,  for  some  fifteen  years,  and  Fort  Reliance 
(long  since  abandoned),  which,  I  understand,  is  right  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Klondike,  was  built  away 
back  by  the  old  Arctic  explorers.  That  the  riches  of  the 
Klondike  could  remain  hidden  for  these  many  years, 
though  miners  have  been  working  all  the  time  in  the 
near  neighborhood,  affords  some  color  to  the  belief  that, 
after  all,  the  California  gold  diggings  will  dwindle  by 
comparison  with  those  of  the  Yukon.  It  has  long  been 
20 


390  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

the  opinion  tliat  when  the  moss  and  timber  are  cleared 
off  the  river  sides  and  gulches  (similar  to  what  miners 
were  obliged  to  do  in  Cassiar),  the  diggings  will  be  ex- 
tensive and  rich. 

"The  following  extracts  from  a  report  made  by  Capt. 
William  Moore  in  January,  1888,  and  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  report  of  Mackenzie  basin  committee,  is 
highly  interesting  as  giving  an  idea  of  the  mining 
operations  that  were  conducted  at  Forty-Mile  creek  as 
far  back  as  ten  years  ago: 

"  'According  to  information  gathered  from  reliable 
sources:  From  the  ist  of  May  to  the  15th  of  July  there 
has  been  taken  out  at  least  $150,000,  three-fourths  of 
which  was  taken  out  on  Forty-Mile  creek,  as  when  a 
party  of  men  came  out  early  last  spring  on  the  ice  and 
confirmed  the  statement  of  the  strike  of  coarse  gold  on 
Forty-Mile  creek,  most  of  the  men  from  Lewes  river 
and  the  Hootalinqua  went  right  down  to  the  new  strike, 
which  only  left  eight  miners  on  the  Hootalinqua,  and 
seven  on  Cassiar  bar  and  the  vicinity,  four  men  on  Pelly 
river,  fifteen  on  Stewart  river  and  seven  on  Sixty-Mile 
creek. 

"  'With  regard  to  the  richness  of  Forty-Mile  creek. 
Miners  would  not  work  $8  diggings;  they  did  not  con- 
sider that  amount  as  wages.  They  did  make  all  the  way 
from  $10  to  $125  per  day. 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  291 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
HISTORY  OF  ALASKA. 

CZAR'S  dream  of  Russian  aggran- 
dizement led  to  the  discovery  of  Alas- 
ka. Peter  the  Great  had  conceived 
the  idea  of  pushing  on  past  Asia  to  the 
American  continent  and  founding  a 
Russian  empire  in  the  new  world.  To 
this  end  he  sent  out  an  exploring  ex- 
pedition under  the  leadership  of  Veit 
Bering,  a  Danish  captain  in  the  Rus- 
sian service.  The  expedition  started  in  February,  1725, 
and  though  the  czar's  death  occurred  in  the  same  month, 
the  monarch's  scheme  was  carried  forward  by  Catherine, 
his  widow,  and  Princess  Elizabeth,  his  daughter. 

The  arduous  work  of  exploring  the  Siberian  coast  and 
waters  continued  for  sixteen  years  before  the  Alaskan 
coast  was  sighted.  The  second  Kamchatkan  expedition 
was  six  years  in  crossing  Siberia.  It  was  in  the  spring 
of  1741  that  Bering  and  his  lieutenant,  Chirikof,  put  out 
into  Bering  sea,  the  waters  of  which  Bering  had  dis- 
covered on  his  previous  expedition.  They  had  two  small 
vessels.  One  was  commanded  by  Bering,  the  other  by 
Chirikof.  The  little  craft  became  separated  at  sea,  and 
never  were  reunited.  Chirikof  bore  away  to  the  east, 
and  during  the  night  of  July  15,  1741,  sighted  land  in 
latitude  55.21.  It  was  afterward  disclosed  that  this  was 
thirty-six  hours  in  advance  of  Bering's  discovery  of  the 
mainland  of  America. 

Chirikof  sent  a  party  ashore  in  one  of  his  small  boats 


392  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

to  explore  the  immediate  country  and  secure  fresh  water. 
Soon  after  leaving  the  vessel,  they  passed  around  a  rocky 
point  and  disappeared  from  sight.  As  they  failed  to  re- 
turn at  the  appointed  time,  another  boat's  crew  was  sent 
ashore.  Soon  a  great  smoke  was  seen  arising  from  the 
shore,  and  two  large  canoes  filled  with  threatening  na- 
tives came  out  from  the  land.  They  refused  to  board  the 
strange  ship,  and  it  dawned  upon  Chirikof  that  all  the  men 
he  had  sent  ashore  had  been  massacred.  This  reduced 
his  crew  to  small  numbers,  and  Chirikof  decided  to  re- 
turn to  the  Kamchatkan  coast. 

The  return  voyage  was  attended  with  frightful  hard- 
ships and  suffering.  Scurvy  attacked  the  men,  many 
died,  and  the  others  were  rendered  helpless  by  sickness. 
After  weeks  of  this  suffering,  the  vessel  reached  the 
Kamchatkan  coast,  with  only  the  pilot  on  deck.  Chiri- 
kof was  one  of  the  first  stricken  with  scurvy,  but  he  re- 
covered. 

Bering's  party  suffered  even  greater  hardships.  After 
sighting  the  coast  and  making  a  landing,  Bering  gave 
orders  to  lift  anchor  and  return  to  Kamchatka.  The 
ship  became  lost  in  the  maze  of  islands,  and  was  wrecked 
upon  a  barren  island.  There  the  survivors  passed  the 
winter,  many  of  them  dying.  Caves  were  dug  in  the 
sandy  bank  of  a  little  stream,  and  a  scanty  and  uncertain 
food  supply  was  obtained  by  killing  sea  animals  and  re- 
sorting to  the  flesh  of  dead  whales  cast  upon  the  beach. 
Bering  died  on  this  island  December  8,  1741. 

In  the  spring  the  handful  of  survivors  constructed  a 
boat  from  tlicir  wrecked  vessel  and  succeeded  in  working 
their  way  back  to  the  Siberian  coast,  where  they  were  re- 
ceived with  great  rejoicing,  having  long  been  given  up 
for  dead. 

Although  the  discoverer  lost  his  life  on  the  first  ex- 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  393 

pedition,  his  work  was  followed  up  by  his  countrymen, 
and  in  the  pursuit  of  the  fur  trade  numerous  settlements 
were  made  by  the  Russians  at  various  points  on  the  coast. 
Of  these  sealing  posts  there  were  about  forty,  of  which 
Archangel  was  the  most  important.  The  territory  had 
been  granted  in  1799  by  Emperor  Paul  VIII.  to  the  Rus- 
sian Fur  company,  and  in  1839,  when  the  charter  was  re- 
newed, sealing  had  developed  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
annual  exportations  amounted  to  25,000  skins,  besides 
many  sea  otter  and  beaver  skins,  and  about  18,000  sea 
horse  teeth.  In  1863  the  expiration  of  the  charter  of 
the  company  found  Russia  extremely  desirous  of  being 
relieved  of  the  anxiety  to  which  the  protection  of  its 
subjects  and  the  maintenance  of  a  government  in  a  far- 
away arctic  region  subjected  it.  It  has  been  asserted  by 
some  that  the  negotiations  instituted  by  the  United  States 
for  the  purchase  of  the  peninsula  contemplated  reward- 
ing Russia,  under  the  guise  of  a  nominal  purchase,  for 
its  friendliness  to  the  American  union  during  the  civil 
war.  This  view,  however,  is  hardly  tenable,  in  view  of 
the  lack  of  interest  Russia  had  taken  in  its  American 
possessions.  The  Russian-American  Fur  company  for 
commercial  reasons  had  been  aggressive,  but  the  Russian 
government  had  confined  itself,  after  the  granting  of  the 
charter  of  the  company,  to  the  protection  of  its  Alaskan 
subjects  and  the  maintenance  of  order  among  them. 

Be  the  motives  for  the  purchase  what  they  may,  in 
1867  the  entire  Russian  possessions  in  America  were 
ceded  to  fhe  United  States.  The  purchase  was  negoti- 
ated by  Secretary  William  H.  Seward,  who  considered  it 
the  most  important  act  of  his  career,  though  he  declared 
that  two  generations  would  pass  before  the  value  of  the 
acquisition  could  be  appreciated.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  he  was  anxious  to  effect  the  purchase,  but  Russia 


394  THE    CHICAGO    RECORD'S 

made  the  first  advance.  The  state  department  negotiated 
a  secret  treaty,  which  the  senate  afterward  ratified,  pro- 
viding for  the  transfer  of  Alaska  to  the  United  States  in 
consideration  of  the  payment  of  $7,200,000  in  gold,  at 
that  time  equivalent  to  more  than  $10,000,000  in  green- 
back currency.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  $10,000,- 
000  was  a  most  inconsiderable  consideration  for  a  trans- 
action so  big  with  possibilities.  Secretary  Blaine  declares 
that  "there  is  little  doubt  that  a  like  ofifer  from  any  other 
European  government  would  have  been  rejected,"  it 
being  a  time  when,  "in  the  judgment  of  the  people  the 
last  thing  we  needed  was  additional  territory."' 

The  state  department's  negotiation  and  the  senate's 
ratification  were  not  the  conclusion  of  the  business,  for 
in  order  to  carry  out  the  transaction  contemplated  by  the 
treaty  an  appropriation  by  congress  became  necessary. 
There  were  objectors  in  congress  who  opposed  the  con- 
summation of  the  convention.  Cadwalader  C.  Washburn 
declared  that  when  the  treaty  for  Alaska  was  negotiated 
"not  a  soul  in  the  whole  U.  Ued  States  asked  for  it."  He 
asserted  that  the  treaty  was  negotiated  secretly,  without 
chance  for  a  hearing  and  that  the  country  ceded  was  ab- 
solutely without  value.  General  Butler  strongly  re-en- 
forced Mr.  Washburn's  argument,  declaring  that  he 
would  rather  give  Russia  $7,200,000  for  its  friendship  pro- 
vided it  vvould  keep  its  peninsula  of  ice  and  the  responsi- 
bilities attached  thereto.  General  Schenck  and  Mr.  Shel- 
labarger  also  were  in  the  opposition,  but  the  side  that  had 
for  its  supporters  General  Banks  and  Thaddeus  Stevens 
finally  was  victorious.  There  was  much  bitterness  against 
Secretary  Seward  for  having  negotiated  a  "star  cham- 
ber" treaty,  but  congress  voted  the  required  appropria- 
tion.    Before  this  was  done,  however,  President  Andrew 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  395 

Johnson  had  taken  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name 
of  the  United  States. 

The  name  Alaska,  formerly  spelled  Aliaska,  is  derived 
from  a  native  word  Al-ak-shak,  signifying  "great  coun- 
try," and  the  world  is  just  awakening  to  the  appropriate- 
ness of  the  designation.  From  north  to  south  Alaska  ex- 
tends 900  miles  from  sea  to  sea;  from  Bering  sea  on  the 
west  to  the  British  boundary  line  the  distance  is  700  miles. 
Alaska's  area  of  600,000  square  miles  is  best  appreciated 
by  comparison  with  more  familiar  regions.  The  penin- 
sula is  twice  as  large  as  the  state  of  Texas;  three  times 
as  large  as  California;  more  than  ten  times  as  large  as 
Illinois;  about  eleven  times  as  large  as  New  York  state; 
about  five  hundred  times  as  large  as  Rhode  Island,  and 
nine  times  the  size  of  all  the  New  England  states  taken 
together. 

The  first  period  in  the  development  of  Alaska  is  in- 
cluded between  the  years  1867  and  1890,  and  furnishes  a 
striking  analogy  to  the  course  that  has  been  taken  in  the 
opening  up  of  British  North  America.  In  the  transfer 
of  the  peninsula  to  the  United  States  the  business  men 
who  composed  the  Alaska  Commercial  company  saw  the 
opportunity  for  a  fortune,  and  before  the  possibilities  of 
the  United  States  purchase  were  known  or  even  con- 
ceived, the  w^ealth  of  Alaska  and  its  islands  had  passed 
for  a  term  of  years  into  the  control  of  this  far-sighted 
corporation.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  purchase  money, 
amounting  to  less  than  half  a  cent  an  acre,  long  since  has 
been  returned  in  profits  on  the  seal  fisheries,  but  it  has 
been  returned  to  the  government's  beneficiaries  and  not 
to  the  government.  In  the  first  five  years  money  paid 
into  the  treasury  on  the  lease  of  the  Alaska  Commercial 
company,  paid  8  per  cent  upon  the  first  cost  Indeed,  tho 
tv.o  small  seal  islands  paid  a  goodly  percentage  on  the 


396  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

purchase  money  for  the  entire  province,  and  simply  in 
rent  to  the  government  they  more  than  repaid  their  cost, 
but  despite  these  partial  showings  the  fact  remains  that 
the  government's  bad  bargain  diverted  the  income  from 
a  rich  property  to  the  hands  of  a  few,  who  were  wise 
enough  to  secure  the  concession. 

In  1890  the  lands  of  the  fur  seal  islands  passed  from 
the  Alaska  Commercial  company  into  the  control  of  the 
North  American  Commercial  company.  The  new  les- 
see went  farther  from  the  old  established  trading  posts  for 
traffic  with  the  natives,  making  such  endeavor  to  develop 
the  country  as  never  had  entered  into  the  designs  of  its 
predecessor.  A  monthly  mail  route,  open  seven  months 
out  of  the  twelve,  was  established  betw^een  Sitka  and 
Bering  sea,  and  the  postoffices  that  followed  the  mail 
route  opened  up  communication  between  the  interior  and 
the  United  States. 

Prior  to  the  year  1884  the  government  of  Alaska  was 
essentially  military,  that  is  to  say,  federal  customs  offi- 
cers were  sustained  in  the  territory  to  prevent  the  selling 
of  liquor  to  Indians  and  white  men.  With  only  natives  to 
govern  there  was  little  occasion  for  a  government.  How- 
ever, as  the  wdiite  residents  of  the  southeastern  coast  in- 
creased in  number  a  more  pretentious  government  be- 
came desirable,  but  the  matter  was  agitated  for  several 
years  without  fruit.  A  convention  was  held  at  Juneau  in 
1881  and  M.  D.  Ball  w^as  sent  as  a  delegate  to  congress. 
Congress,  however,  would  have  none  of  Mr.  Ball  in  any 
official  capacity,  and  while  the  matter  of  Alaska's  civil 
and  economic  condition  had  been  brought  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  American  government  and  people,  yet  Alaska 
still  was  without  representation  of  any  sort  in  congress. 
In  the  next  session  of  congress  the  matter  was  brought 
up,  but  no  action  was  taken,  and  it  was  not  until  1883 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  397 

that  congress  granted  the  province  any  semblance  of 
civil  government.  The  bill  which  became  a  law  in  that 
year  was  introduced  by  Senator  Benjamin  Harrison  and 
entitled  'The  Organic  Act  of  Alaska."  This  bill  pro- 
vided for  the  appointment  of  a  governor,  a  marshal,  a 
clerk,  and  district  judge,  a  clerk  of  the  court,  and  four 
United  States  commissioners,  the  last-named  to  have 
their  residences  in  four  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  terri- 
tory and  the  other  officials  to  have  offices  at  Sitka,  the 
temporary  capital.  All  were  to  be  appointed  by  the 
president.  The  first  actual  representation  of  the  terri- 
tory thus  constituted  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  United 
States  was  in  1888,  when  the  Democrats  of  Alaska  sent 
delegates  to  the  democratic  national  convention  and  the 
credentials  of  these  democrats  were  honored.  The  Re- 
publican national  committee  holding  office  between  1888 
and  1892  allowed  Alaska  permanent  representation  the 
same  as  the  other  territories  and  the  same  recognition  was 
accorded  by  the  democratic  convention  of  1892. 

In  the  spring  of  that  year  the  efforts  of  representative 
men  of  Alaska  had  resulted  in  the  enactment  of  a  law 
which  for  the  first  time  provided  for  the  suitable  transfer 
of  land-titles  in  Alaska.  By  the  terms  of  this  act  in- 
dividuals or  companies  were  permitted  to  purchase  land 
at  $2.50  an  acre,  and  dwellers  in  towns  were  permitted 
to  acquire  valid  title  to  their  holdings.  Up  to  the  present 
time  Alaska  has  no  representative  government,  but  is 
administered  by  the  federal  authorities  directly,  in  the 
same  manner  as  is  the  District  of  Columbia.  Up  to  the 
late  discovery  of  gold  Alaska  has  lacked  partisans  to 
plead  its  cause  in  congress.  Now,  however,  that  the 
Yukon  region  is  drawing  from  all  quarters  of  the  United 
States  the  hardiest  and  the  bravest,  it  has  much  to  hope 
from  an  early  session  of  congress  in  the  way  of  legisla- 


398  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

tion  to  place  it  on  a  level  with  other  unadmitted  terri- 
tories. 

The  following  are  the  federal  officials  in  Alaska: 

Governor — John  G.  Brady,  Sitka. 

United  States  Judge — Charles  S.  Johnson,  Sitka, 

United  States  District  Attorney — Burton  E.  Bennett, 
Sitka. 

United  States  Marshal — James  M.  Shoup,  Sitka, 

Clerk  of  District  Court  and  Ex-Officio  Secretary  of 
State— Albert  D.  Elliott,  Sitka. 

Treasury   department   officials : 

Collector  of  Customs — Joseph  W.  Ivey,  Sitka. 

Agent  Seal  Islands — Joseph  Murray.  Assistant  agents 
seal  islands:  John  M.  Morton,  J.  B.  Crowley,  and  James 
Judge. 

Special  Agent  Investigation  Fur  Seal  Fisheries,  Seal 
Islands — Professor  D,  S.  Jordan. 

Special  Agent  Salmon  Fisheries — Howard  M.  Kut- 
chin. 

Assistant  Agent  Salmon  Fisheries — James  C.  Boatner. 

Interior  department  officials: 

Register  of  Public  Lands — John  W.  Dudley,  Sitka. 

Receiver  of  Public  Money — Roswell  Shelly,  Sitka. 

Surveyor  General  of  Alaska — W.  L.  Dustin,  Illinois. 

Commissioners — At  Sitka,  Caldwell  W.  Tuttle;  at 
Wrangel,  Kenneth  M.  Jackson;  at  Unalaska,  Lycurgus 
R.  Woodward;  at  Juneau  City,  John  Y.  Ostrander;  at 
Kadiak,  Philip  Gallagher;  at  Circle  City,  John  E.  Crane; 
at  St.  Michael,  L.  B.  Shepherd;  at  Dyea,  John  U.  Smith; 
at  Unga,  Charles  H.  Isham. 

The  opponents  to  the  consummation  of  Secretary  Sew- 
ard's negotiation  for  the  purchase  of  Alaska  had  a  certain 
basis  of  truth  for  their  slur  upon  Alaska  as  a  peninsula 
of  ice,  for  in  the  north,  at  St,  Michael  and  Point  Barrow, 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  399 

welis  have  been  dug  through  60  feet  of  soHd  ice  and  the 
same  is  true  along  the  Yukon.  The  summit  of  Mt.  St. 
Ehas,  18,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  is  covered 
with  perpetual  snow.  From  the  south  side  of  this  moun- 
tain eleven  great  glaciers  are  slowly  traveling  to  the  sea, 
and  one  of  them,  the  Agassiz  glacier,  is  twenty  miles  wide 
and  fifty  long,  covering  an  area  of  not  less  than  1,000 
square  miles.  In  the  interior  the  plains  are  covered 
with  ice  for  eight  months  in  the  year.  On  the  Aleutian 
islands,  hovvcver,  is  luxuriant  vegetation.  There  are  no 
large  trees,  but  the  miniature  prairies  are  covered  with 
rich  vegetable  mold  and  a  rich  growth  of  grass  and  shrub- 
bery. Scientists  predict  that  from  the  Aleutian  country 
will  yet  be  drawn  the  best  supplies  of  butter  and  cheese 
for  the  Pacific  coast.  Along  the  southern  coast  of  the 
mainland  the  climate  is  balmy,  and  even  where  the  win- 
ters are  most  rigorous  and  long-drawn-out  the  spring 
and  the  short  summer  are  seasons  of  rapid  growth  of 
vegetation  and  of  endurable  temperature. 

There  are  fliirty  or  more  volcanoes  in  Alaska,  about 
eight  of  which  are  in  active  eruption.  Shishaldin,  a  vol- 
canic mountain,  9,000  feet  high,  is  known  to  burn  con- 
stantly. One  hundred  miles  from  Unimak  island,  where 
this  volcano  is  situated,  is  Pavlof,  another  smoking 
mountain.  Mt.  Makushin,  on  Unalaska  island,  is  about 
a  mile  in  height,  and  also  more  or  less  active.  There  are 
other  smoking  volcanoes  on  Unimak,  Akutan,  and  Atka 
islands.  Besides  its  numerous  volcanoes  Alaska  boasts 
the  highest  known  mountain  in  North  America.  This 
peak,  Mt.  Wrangel,  has  an  elevation  of  19,000  feet,  and 
there  are  others  that  crowd  it  closely.  Besides  Mt.  St. 
Elias,  with  its  altitude  of  more  than  three  miles,  is  Mt. 
Fairweather,  5,500  feet  high;  Mt.  Crillon,  15,000;  Mt. 
Perouse,  14,300. 


400  THE    CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

The  moimtains  at  Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  from  which 
the  continent  of  Asia  may  be  seen,  are  barren  and  rug- 
ged. Toward  the  base  they  slope  out  gradually  and  end 
in  a  long  stretch  of  sandy  beach.  The  proximity  of  Si- 
beria suggests  to  all  who  look  across  the  strait  and  see 
another  continent  rising  before  them  the  desirability  of  a 
bridge  to  span  the  strip  of  water  and  join  the  hemis- 
pheres. Desirable  it  certainly  would  be,  but  altogether 
impracticable,  it  is  said.  The  current  is  too  swift,  and  the 
vast  quantities  of  ice  which  fall  into  the  Arctic  ocean  and, 
in  the  breaking-up  season,  bear  down  to  the  south,  would 
demolish  in  short  order  any  abutments  that  might  be 
erected.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  strait  might  be 
tunneled  or  that  vast  quantities  of  the  basaltic  rock  might 
be  torn  out  of  the  cliffs  on  Cape  Prince  of  Wales  and  used 
to  form  a  highway  between  Asia  and  America. 

To  return  to  the  subject  of  the  climate,  the  coast  coun- 
try of  Alaska  derives  great  benefit  from  the  Japan  ocean 
current,  which  tempers  the  raw  air  and  modifies  the  harsh 
winds  that  blow  from  the  north.  Throughout  all  the 
coast  country  the  precipitation  of  rain  and  snow  is  very 
heavy  and  seasons  of  excessive  rainfall  are  very  likely  to 
continue  for  weeks  at  a  time.  Nevertheless  the  Alaskan 
rains  are  not  so  cold  as  are  the  rains  even  in  the  temper- 
ate zone,  and  while  the  air  is  cool  at  all  times  it  is  not  raw 
at  any  season.  In  the  interior  there  is  less  rainfall  than 
on  the  coast,  and  there  summer  heat  rises  to  excessive 
temperature.  The  mercury  has  been  known  to  rise  as 
high  as  120  degrees,  but  the  extreme  cold  of  winter 
quickly  follows.  Fifty  and  60  degrees  below  zero  is  the 
usual  minimum  temperature,  although  70  degrees  is  on 
record.  It  is  the  extreme  humidity  of  the  atmosphere 
and  the  heavy  precipitation  at  all  seasons  that  produces 
the  remarkable  verdure  already  mentioned.     All  garden 


BOOK    FOR    GOLD-SEEKERS.  401 

vegetables  thrive  in  this  cHmate,  and  many  small  fruits 
are  indigenous  to  the  soil.  Up  to  the  present,  no  stock- 
man has  made  a  success  of  raising  either  large  or  small 
cattle.     The  climate  is  trying  to  farm  animals. 

In  his  report  James  Sheakley,  governor  of  Alaska,  in 
i8c)6  transmitted  to  the  interior  department  the  following 
particulars  regarding  the  seal  catch,  the  mines,  and  the 
fisheries  of  Alaska,  together  with  facts  touching  civil  con- 
ditions in  the  territory: 

"The  summary  of  the  seal  catch  in  Bering  sea  for  the 
season  of  1896  shows  that  7,965  male  and  12,641  female 
seals  were  killed. 


Season  of  1895. 

Eighteen  American  vessels  caught 6,454 

Thirty-six  British  vessels  caught 24,762 

Fifty-four  vessels  caught 31,216 

Number  of  boarding  operations,  171. 


Season  of  1896. 

Twelve  American  vessels  caught 2,907 

Fifty-four  British  vessels  caught 17,805 

Sixty-six  vessels  caught 20,712 

Number  of  boarding  operations,  181. 

Total  number  of  miles  steamed  by  the  patrol  fleet  to 
date,  77,464-5- 

Number  of  American  vessels  seized  in  Bering  sea,  2. 

Number  of  British  vessels  seized  in  Bering  sea,  4. 

"Of  the  sixty-six  vessels  engaged  in  pelagic  sealing 
but  twelve  were  American.  The  number  of  fur  seals  fre- 
quenting Bering  sea  is  becoming  steadily  less  every  year, 
and  all  engaged  in  the  industry  of  pelagic  sealing  are  be- 


402  THE   CHICAGO   RECORD'S 

ginning  to  realize  that  they  have  killed  the  goose  that  laid 
the  golden  egg.  Thirty  thousand  male  seals  were  taken 
by  the  lessees  of  the  Pribilof  islands  this  year  of  1896.  I 
see  no  reason  why  this  or  even  a  greater  number  should 
not  be  taken  annually,  as  the  number  of  males  is  largely 
in  excess  of  the  needs  of  the  herd. 

"Two  million  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  gold 
bullion  have  been  taken  from  the  gold  mines  within  the 
territory  of  Alaska  during  the  year  ending  October  i, 
1896.  The  greater  part  of  this  amount  is  the  product  of 
low  grade  ores,  much  of  which  yielded  less  than  $4  per 
ton.  The  improved  methods  in  mining  and  milling  gold- 
bearing  rock  have  so  greatly  reduced  the  expense  that  al- 
most any  grade  of  gold  ores  can  be  worked  with  a  profit. 
One  dollar  twenty-five  cents  per  ton  is  the  average  cost 
of  mining  and  milling  the  quartz  rock  at  the  Alaska- 
Treadwell  Gold  Mining  company's  mines  on  Douglas 
Island,  Alaska,  Hunting  or  prospecting  for  new  mines 
has  been  very  active  during  the  year  last  past,  and  a  num- 
ber of  good  mines  have  been  located.  Several  of  these 
new  ledges  are  being  developed  rapidly,  and  on  some 
stamp  mills  have  been  erected  and  are  operating  with 
satisfactory  results.  Confidence  in  Alaska  as  a  gold- 
producing  country  increases  as  her  resources  are  de- 
veloped. 


INDEX  TO  CONTENTS. 


Page 

Adams  creek  16 

Adams  Mrs.  (Dawson  City)..  267 

Adverse  claims  (mining) 120 

Agriculture,    Yukon    district.  386 
ALASKA— 

Attempt  to  define  bound- 
ary   213 

Civil      government,      law 

creating    135 

Climate    398 

Land  department  district 

created    125 

Land  office  officials 119 

Land  office  regulations —  116 

Rainfall    228 

Temperature    2-8 

ALASKA,    HISTORY   OP.,..  391 

Bering's  expedition 391 

Discovered  by  Chirikof...  391 

Russian  sealing  posts 3^3 

Russian   Fur   Company...  393 

Purchased  by  U.  S 393 

Opposition  in  Congress —  394 
Derivation  of  "Alaska"...  395 

Extent  of  territory 395 

First  period  development.  395 

Fur   seal   islands £9!) 

Juneau    convention 396 

Organic  act  of  Alaska 397 

Transfer  of  land  titles 397 

FederaJ  officials  in  Alas- 
ka   3S8 

Climatic  conditions 399 

Volcanoes  and  mountains  399 

Temperature  400 

Gov.  Sbeaklcy's  report —  401 

Alaska  Commercial  Co 89,  291 

Alaska  Miner,   The  (analysis 

of  pan  values) 192 

Alaska  placer  mines,  process.    18 

Aleutian   Islands 24 

Alluvial  deposits  (mines)  113 

Alluvial    ground,    character..  110 

Amalgam  122 

Andreafski   25 

Anvik   25 

Anvik  river 304 

Apron  (mining) 12i 

Arsenic  effect  on  gold 113 

Asphaltum  in  Canada SS2 

Assay,  for  gold  quartz 116 

Assay,  handy  method 116 

Athabasca  Landing  33,  190 


Page 
Athabasca  river 

33,  189,  190,  191,  193 
Atlanta,    Ga.    railroad    rates 

to  Pacific  seaports 105 

Auriferous  lodes  (mining) —  114 

Back    door    route,     cost    of 

travel    99 

Back  door  route  from  Fargo, 

N.    D 204 

Back    door    route,     railroad 

fare  106 

Back,   explorer  193 

Back  trenches  (mining) 110 

Baggage,  pounds  allowed 

96,    100,   103,   104 
Baker  Marcus  (world's  pro- 
duction of  gold) 361 

Bald  Eagle  mining  claim 3ol 

Baltimore,    railroad    rates   to 

Pacific   seaports 105 

Barnum,    Father 371 

Bar-rooms,  Dawson  City 272 

Bear   Creek -6,   2A 

Beaver  river 86,  87 

Beddoe,  mail  contractor 261 

Beebe  creek 49 

Bed  rock  (mining) 108 

Beell,  Dr.  Robert 3S4 

Bering   sea 24 

Berry,   Clarence 172,   173 

Berry,  Mrs,  Clarence 173 

Biche  (Athabasca  river) 190 

Big  Salmon  river 78,  S02 

Bimetallism,      effect     on     of 

Klondike    output 346 

BIRCH   CREEK 238 

Diggings  in  winter 276 

Gold  taken  out 277 

BOATS— 

Back  door  route 205 

How  to  build 26 

Knock-down  for  portage.    61 

Mackenzie  river 34,  192 

River  use 99 

Takau   inlet 40 

Yukon  river 85 

BONANZA  CREEK 

15,  IG,  94,  162,  164,  1G6,  294 
Estimated     gold     produc- 
tion    166 

Pan  values  claims,  164,  166,  179 
Big  strikes 172,  173,   174 


404 


INDEX   TO  CONTENTS. 


Page 

Bompas,  Bishop 272 

Boston,  railroad  rates  to  Pa- 
cific coast  ports 100 

Boswell,  T.,  describes  Teslin- 

too  river 77 

Boundary  line,  internation- 
al   213,  291 

Buffalo,  railroad  rates  to  Pa- 
cific   seaports 103 

British  Columbia,  gold  belt..  295 

Calc  spar  (mining) 114,  115 

Calgary    99,    190 

California  pump  (mining) 133 

Camp  0X1  the  Yukon 327 

Campbell,   Robert 85,  287 

Camping  outfit  (see  outfit). 
CANADA— 

Attitude     boundary     line 

dispute  22S 

Report  on  Yukon  district  381 

Fees  149 

Geological  survey 384 

Gold    product 343 

Mineral    resources 382 

Mining   laws 149 

Royalties    (claims) 149 

Tariff  tax  on  outfits.. 62,  63,  91 

To  locate  wagon  road 292 

To  open  Stikeen  route 41 

Canadian  Pacific  railroad  ...    99 

Canoes  99,  195 

Carmack,  George  W..162,  171,  294 
Caribou     (Cariboo)     diggings 

185,  191 

Caribou  portage 67 

Carr,  "Jack,"  outfit 51 

Cassiar  gold  district... 48,  185,  302 

Chandindu  river 88 

Chapman.  Rev.  J.  W 367 

Charleston,  S.  C,  railroad 
rates  to  Pacific  sea- 
ports     105 

Che-cha-cos  (tenderfeet) 109 

Chicken   creek 296 

Chilkat  river  292 

Chilkoot  inlet  66 

CHILKOOT  PASS 97 

First  expedition  through..    39 

Chippewayan    Fort 33 

Church,  Dawson  City 272 

Cincinnati,  O.,  railroad  rates 

to  Pacific  seaports. 105,  106 
Citric  acid,  remedy  for  scur- 
vy        51 

CIRCBF   CITY 25 

Cost  of  outfit 96 

Described  by  Eli  A.  Gage  322 

Exodus    from 172 

CLAIMS  (mining)— 

Boundaries   of 116 

How  to  file 116  to  120 

How  to  locate 116  to  118 

Klondike,    all  taken 109 


CLAIMS— Continued.              Page 
Location — Canadian  regu- 
lations      149 

Number  on  Klondike.. 294,  295 

Survey  of 116,  117 

Clay  in  Canada 382 

Cleaning    up    process    (min- 
ing)   132 

Cleaning  up  sluices  (mining)  131 

Clearwater   river 193 

Climate,  Alaska 400 

Clothing,  see  Outfits. 
Clothing,    cost    of,     Dawson 

City    266 

Clothing,    Yukon 326 

Clut,  Isadore  (Bishop) 202,  384 

Coal  in   Canada 3>'3 

Coal  in  Klondike  district 295 

Coal  in  Yukon  district 246 

Coast  range  mountains 287 

Columbia  river,  gold  rush....  305 

Committee's  Punch  bowl 190 

Cone  hill  (Forty-mile)  river..    89 
Constantine  Fort  (Cudahy)..    89 

Cook  inlet 238 

Copper     plates     in     sluicing 

(mining)    131,  132 

Copper  pyrites  (mining) 

110,  113,  115 

Copper  in  Canada 3?4 

Copper   river 238,  255 

Coppermine  river 382 

COST— 

Beef  at  Fort  Cudahy 286 

Claims  per  acre 120 

Dinner,  Dawson  City 273 

Freight  to  gold  diggings..  244 

Outfit  50,  57,    99 

Outfit,  Circle  City 322 

Travel,  back  door  route 

99,  203,  204 
Travel,   all  water  route..    96 

Travel  overland 98 

CRADLE  (mining) 123 

How  to  use 123,  124 

When  to  use 125 

Cradling,  not  economical 125 

Creeks  (see  rivers). 

Crime,   Dawson  City 273 

Crooked    Creek 304 

CUDAHY  FORT  

89,  96,  282,  283,  284 

Average  temperature.  .232,  283 
Described  by  Eli  A.  Gage.  334 

First  boats  to  arrive 292 

Curran,  P.  J.,  describes  Back 

Door  route 208 

Curtain   (mining) 123 

D'Abbadie  (Big  Salmon)  river    78 

Dalton  J 292 

Daly   (Little   Salmon)   river..    78 

Dance  hall,   Dawson  City 272 

Davidson,    Prof.   George 224 

Davis  Croek 252 


INDEX   TO   CONTENTS. 


405 


Page 
DAWSON  CITY 

15,    25,    31,    32,   41,    88.  162 

Amusements   274 

Baths    272 

Bars  272 

Church  272 

Climate   271 

Cost  of  outfit 96 

Crime  173 

Dress  making 267 

First  boats  to  arrive 292 

Gambling  273 

How  laid  out 267 

Orchestra    272 

Papers   274 

Population 268 

Prices,  food,  clothing,  etc. 

169,  266 

Restaurants  273 

Value   of   lots    169 

Life  in  266 

Dawson,  Dr.  G.  M. 

67,  74,  75,  78,  201,  288,  S?4,  385 

Deer  (Klondike)  river 88 

Diseases  common  in  Klondike 

234,  235,  236 
DISTANCES— 

Chicago   to  Calgary 190 

Circle  City  to  Ft.  Cudahy.  319 

Dyea  to   Cudahy ,292 

Dyea  to  Dawson  City.. 32,  292 
Edmonton    to    Fort   Mac- 

pherson   33,  203 

Juneau      to     head     Lynn 

canal   25 

Juneau  to  Lake  Teslin 39 

Mail  route,  Juneau-Circle 

City    258 

Pacific  occean  to  Fort  Sel- 
kirk    253 

San     Francisco     to    Fort 

Cudahy   90 

Seattle  to  Dawson  City...    32 
Seattle    to    Dawson    City 

via   St.    Michael 25 

Seattle    to    Dawson    City 

via  Stikeen  river 47 

Seattle    to    Dawson    City 

via  Takou  river 41 

Seattle  to   Juneau 25 

St.  Michael  to  Fort  Cud- 
ahy    291 

St.  Michael  to  mouth  Yu- 
kon river 292 

Stewart    river    to    mouth 

Yukon    river 9) 

Navigation       on      Takou 

river  39 

Trail,  Telegraph  creek  to 

Lake  Teslin  41 

Telegraph  creek  to  Lake 

Teslin   292 

Yukon    (mouth)    to    Lake 

Teslin  292 

21 


Page 
DISTANCES— Continued. 
Yukon    (mouth)    to    head 

navigation    292 

Table— All  water  route...  32 
Table— Back   door  route..    33 

Table— Overland  route 32 

Table— Ogilvie's    90 

Table— Stikeen  river  route  47 
Table— Takou  river  route.  41 
Table— Ogilvie's        (Taiya 

Pass)  93 

Table    (Ogilvie's)— Stikeen 

river  route   90 

Table   (Ogilvie's)  —  Victo- 
ria Taiya  pass 90 

DOGS  on  Mackenzie  river 155 

Hudson's  Bay  Co 204 

Siwash  323 

Value  of  Edmonton 212 

Value  of  Yukon  172 

Drifts  (mining) 114 

Dryden,  Prof.  James 381 

Duffleld,  Gen 224 

Dutch  harbor  21 

Dyea  inlet   26 

Dyea  pass 25,    98 

Eagle's  nest 83 

Edmonton    99,  190 

EL  DORADO  CREEK 

16,  94,  163,  164,  165,  294 
Amount  gold  taken  out 

163,  164 

Character  of  Claims 113 

Pan  values  claims 176,  179 

Big  Strikes  172,  173,  174 

Elk  (Athabasca)  river 191 

Emmons  Prof.  S.  F 2^3 

Episcopal      mission,      Circle 

City    367 

Excelsior,  steam  ship  162 

False    bottoms,     block,    zig- 
zag (mining)   123 

Farg'o  N.  D 204 

Federal  officials,  Alaska 398 

Fees,  mining,  Canadian 149 

First  left-hand  fork 15 

Fish,  Takou  river 40 

Five  Finger  rapids 83 

Float  rock  (mining) 114 

Fluor  spar  (mining)  114,  115 

FOOD  see  Outfits. 

Cost,   Dawson  City 266 

Pemmican  (jerked  beef) 

194,  195 
Required  by  prospectors..  51 
Required  Back  Door  route 

99,  203,  204,  211 
Required     ner     man     per 

day  SO 

Required  for  year  50 

Shortage  of  245 

Trappers  and  Indians  ....  19S 


406 


INDEX   TO    CONTENTS. 


Page 

Fool's  gold  109 

Forts,  see  Trading  Posts. 

Forty  Mile  Creek 89,  9a,  303 

Forty  Mile,  town  25,  8.t,  162 

Franklin,  Sir  John  145,  190 

Gage,  Eli  A.,  account  Yukon 

journey   318 

Galena,  deposits 302 

Gambling,  Dawson  City 273 

GAME— 

In  Klondike  country  373 

Ogilvie's  report  on 375 

On  Takou  river 40 

In  Northwest  territories..  212 

Gastineau  channel  298 

Glacier  creek  296 

Gnats  243 

GOLD— 

Africa  343 

As  powder  (mining) 113 

Australia   343 

Alluvial  deposits  113 

Birch  creek  output 277 

Birch  creek  district 252 

British      Columbia      gold 

belt  295 

British   India    343 

Canada   , 343 

Character  of  in  placers..  109 
Character  quartz  Yukon 

246,  247 
Capital    required    by  gold 

seekers  94 

Dust,  fine lOg 

Effect  of  arsenic  and  sul- 
phur    113 

Fools  109 

Forty   Mile   district    251 

Free,  how  to  detect 110 

Guiding  test  for Il3 

How  stored  in  the  Klon- 
dike      170 

How     to     separate     from 
sand  122 

Klondike,  character  of . . . .  163 

List  big  strikes 183 

Mexico  343 

Miner's  guide  108 

Mining  requires  capital...  106 

Mother  lode  109 

Nuggets,  where  found 110 

Prospector's  guide 108 

Prospector's  pan  120 

Product,   world's   343 

Quartz   115 

Quartz  in  Klondike 169 

Russia    343 

To    develop    Kamchatkan 

fields    357 

GOLD,  WHERE  FOUND— 

Adams  creek 16 

Admiralty  island 302 


GOLD,  WHERE  FOUND— CoH. 

Alaska,  southeast 298 

American  creek 214 

Annette  island  301 

Barren  grounds  382 

Bear  creek  16 

Berner's  bay  237 

Big  Salmon  river 302 

Birch  creek 238,  248,  303 

Bonanza  creek  15,  16,    17 

Caribou  (Cariboo)  district 

185,  105,'  201 
Cassiar  district 

17,  48,  75,  295,  386 

Chicken  creek  296 

Copper  river 238,  255 

Crooked  creek  304 

Davis  creek  252 

Densmuir's  bar 390 

Dominion  creek  185 

Douglas  island   302 

El  Dorado  creek 15,    16 

First  left-hand  fork 16 

Fish  creek  * 304 

Forty  Mile  creek 

238,  248,  303,  386,  3S9,  390 

Franklin  creek  252 

Glacier  creek   296,  303 

Gold  creek  298 

Gold  Bottom  creek 16 

Hootalinqua  river 

16,  185,  295,  302 

Hudson  Bay   382 

Hunker  creek   16 

Indian  river  16,  293,  295 

Juneau  district  298 

Kettleson  fork   16 

Klondike  river 

15,  17,  108,  162,  293,  389 

Kootenai  district  186 

Koyukuk  river  258,  303 

Lewes  river  302,  386 

Liard  river  ....185,  382,  385,  389 
Mackenzie  river  basin 

201,  382,  385 

Mastodon  creek  252 

McCormac's  bar  390 

Miller  creek  252,  296,  303 

Mission  creek  214 

Molymute  creek  3o4 

Nisulantine  river 49 

North  Fork  (Birch  creek)  304 
Northwest  territories   ...  382 

Ominaca  district  201 

Quartz  creek 16 

Peace  river  382 

Peel  river  382 

Pelly  river  16,  295,  302 

Phil  creek  16 

Prince  of  Wales  island  ..  301 

Rossland  district   186 

Sheep  creek  298 

Silver  Bow  basin 252 

Sixty  Mile  creek 303 


INDEX  TO   CONTENTS. 


407 


Page 
GOLD,  WHERE  FOUND-Con. 
South  Fork  (Birch  creek).  3v4 
Stewart  river 

16,  86,  185,  2£8,  295 

Sum  Dum  district  301 

Tanana  river  303 

Telly  creek  293 

Teslintoo       (Hootalinqua) 

1  iver  75 

Thron-Diuck      (Klondike) 

river  293 

Too-much-gold  cieek 16 

Treadwell  mine  237 

Unga  field  237 

Wild  creek  3  4 

Yukon  and  branches 

65  to  93,  3S9 
Yukon  district  238,  246,  384,  389 

Yukon  river IT,  389,  390 

Gold,  where  found.  Gen.  Duf- 

field  224 

Gold  Bottom  creek 16,  166,  294 

Gold  creek  -98 

Good  Hope  Fort 33 

Gordon,  Charles  U 257 

Goodrich,  H.  B 237 

Gray,  Albert  D 47 

Graphite,  in  Canada 384 

Great  Fish  river 1S9 

Great  Slave  river 192 

Gypsum,  in  Canada 3S2 

Hammer,  prospector's 113 

Harper,    Hudson's    Bay    Co. 

trader  258 

Harrisburg  (Juneau)   298 

Harris,  Richard   298 

Hearne,  Samuel  189 

Heming,  A'.  H.   H 34,    99 

Higgins,  Croft  W 195 

Hopper  (mining)   123 

Horn  spoon  113,  122 

Holy  cross  25 

Hootalinqua    (Teslintoo)    riv- 
er....17,  32,  41,  72,  75,  78,  302 
HUDSON'S  BAY  CO. 

33,  34,  189,  190,  201,  2:8 

History  of    307 

First  posts  —  307 

Competition  311 

Colonies    312 

Forts  314 

Indians  315 

Administration   315 

The  "Fur  Trade" 316 

Territory  317 

Traders   3S3 

Trappers    193 

Hunter  creek  16,  166,  294 

INDIANS— 

Ben       Holden,        musical 
genius  366 


INDIANS— Continued. 

Chilkat  73 

Chilkoot  26 

Chinook  73 

Church  365 

Copper  river  255 

Discovered  gold  in  Klon- 
dike      162 

Educated    365 

Metlakahtla  364 

Model  town   363 

Pillaged  Fort  Selkirk 85 

Schools  365 

Tagish  68,  183 

To    paddle    canoes    Back 
Door  route  34 

Ingersoll  islands   84 

INLETS— 

Cook  238 

Dyea  26 

Takou   (Taku)    40,  41,    77 

Taiya   (Dyea) 72 

Indian  river  16,  238,  293,  295 

INTERNATIONAL        BOUND- 
ARY— 

Dispute    213 

Location   216,  217 

Iron,    in   Canada 385 

Iron  pyrites  (mining) 

109,  110,  113,  115 

Iskoot  river  48 

Jerked  beef  (Pemmican).  .194,  195 

Jimtown   41 

Johns,  W.  D.,  richness  placer 

mines    162 

Jones,  W.  J.,  describes  model 

Indian  town  363 

Juneau   25,  32,    41 

Juneau  route  85 

Katune  creek  40 

Kettleson  fork   16 

Klaheela  river 293 

Klamath  gold  rush 3ij5 

KLONDIKE       GOLD      DIS- 
TRICT— 

Character  gold  streak 17 

Claims,  value  of 164,  165 

Diseases  234,  2S5,  236 

Estimated     gold     produc- 
tion    342 

Geological  conditions 253 

How  and  when  gold  was 

found  162 

Influence  output  on  world 

345,  356 

List  of  big  strikes  183 

Location  15 

Mail  service  257 

Nature  of  gold  deposit 108 

Pan  values  claims 163,  176 

Permanent  value   183 


408 


INDEX  TO   CONTENTS. 


Page 
KLONDIKE  GOLD  DIST.-Con. 
Production    and    develop- 
ment    181 

Richness  of  claims  295 

Rich  pay  dirt  163 

Sunrise    262 

Summer  and  winter  work  169 

Wages    169 

Quartz  veins  174,  296 

Klondike  river  ..15,  94,  1G2,  168,  293 

Kootenai  gold  district  186 

Koserefskv  25 

Koykuk  river 238 

Krook,   Robert  2"3 

Kutlik  25 

Ladue,  Joseph  26G,  267,  £6> 

LAKES— 

Athabasca  S3,  189,  191 

Bennett  26,  32.  66,  67,  77 

Bove  (Tagish)  67 

Committee's  Punch  bowl.  15^0 

Dease  41,  48.  192 

Great  Bear  £82 

Great  Slave  33,  190,  191 

Kaukitchie  49 

Le  Barge   SI,  32,  73,     .4 

Lesser  Slave  191 

Lindeman  32,  65,  6G,  67 

Marsh   (Mud)    ....31,   32,  71,  72 

Mayhew    87 

Nares  66 

Simpson    205 

Takone  (Windy  Arm)  .  .67,    71 

Tagish    31,    32 

Teslin  39,    41 

White  Whale  205 

Windy  Arm   67,    71 

Winnepeg 192,  20i 

La  Loche  portage  193 

Land        office        regulations, 

Alaska  116 

Land        office        regulations, 

(claims)  116  to  120 

Land  reserved  for  sale 136 

Last  Chance  creek 165 

Law,   mining,    Canadian 149 

X-aw,  miners'  meetings 324 

X.aw,  United  States  mining..  13t 

Le  Barge,  Mike  75 

Letters,  see  Mails. 
Lewes  river 

65,  71,  72,  73,  75,  76,  78,  84,  302 

Liard  river 77,  192,  193 

Limestone,   Canada  382 

Ljppy,  T.  S 173 

Little  Salmon   river   78 

Lodes,  auriferous  (mining)...  lit 

Lode,  how  to  prospect  for 115 

Lode,  mother  109 

Long  Tom  (mining) 125.  126 

I..ouisville,    railroad    tales   to 

Pacific  seaports  105 

Lynn  Canal  25,  292 


Page 
Mackenzie,  explorer  189,  190 

Mackenzie  river. 33,  34,  189,  191,  193 
Macpherson  Fort   33,  34,    9.t 

MAILr- 

Circle  City  325 

Service  for  the  Klondike..  257 
List  of  Yukon  carriers....  258 

Service,  hardships  261 

To  Fort  Macpherson 204 

Magnets,  use  in  prospecling..  122 

Matrices  (mining)  114 

Maris,   Omer   24,    61 

Mastodon  creek  252 

Matrix  (mining)  114 

McClintock  river  72 

Mcintosh,  Gov.  H.  C 184 

McMurray  Fort  33 

McQuestion,  trader  288 

Medicine,  what  to  take 62 

Memphis,    railroad    rates    to 

Pacific  seaports  105 

Mercury,  used  in  sluicing 131 

Mercury,  used  in  panning 122 

Metlakahtla  363 

Mica  in  Canada 382 

Mica,  taken  for  gold  110,  113 

Miles  canyon 31 

Mills,  A.  E 41,    47 

ililler  creek  2.52 

MINES— 

Alaska   237 

In  northwest  territory  ....  382 

Tenderfoot    94 

Quartz    23J,  241 

Miners'  guide  108 

Miners'  hospitality 333 

Miners'  meeting  324 

MINING  LAWS— 

Canadian   149 

United  States  136 

MINING  LAW  OF  CANADA  149 

Abandoned  claim   153 

Agents   154 

Application  for  grant  154 

Arbitrators   154,  155 

Award  of  damages   156 

Bar  diggings  defined 149 

Bench  diggings  defined   ..  150 

Dry  diggings  defined 150 

Certificate  of  assignment.  156 

Claims,  defined  150 

Claims,  discovery  151 

Claims,    nature   and     size 

134,  151 

Close  season  defined   150 

Damages    155 

Entry  of  claims  152 

Entry  fee  152 

Entry  renewal  152 

Forms  of  application.. 152,  159 

Form  of  Certificate  156 

Form  grant   160 

Grant  of  claim   153 

Grant  for  placer  claim....  160 


INDEX   TO  CONTENTS. 


409 


Page 
MINING  LAW  OF  CANADA— 
Continued. 

Legal  post  defined 150 

Locality,  defined —  150 

Miner  defined  150 

Mineral  defined  150 

Mortgaging  claim  153 

Patent   151 

Post,  legal  150 

Proof  required  154 

Recording  claims 152 

Sale  of  claims  153 

Size  of  claims   150,  151 

Surface  rights  154 

Water,  use  of 153 

MINING  LAWS,   UNITED 

STATES  135 

Adverse  claims  145,  146 

Districts,  mining  143 

License  to  explore,  occupy 
and   purchase    mineial 

lands    136 

Lands,    mineral,    reserved 

from   sale   136 

Locators  must  show  proof 

_  of  citizenship  137 

How  done  137 

Lode  claims  142,  143 

Mining    districts    143,141 

Patent,      application     for 

lode  claim   130,  140 

Patent,      application      for 

placer  claim  139,  140 

Patent,  for  mixed  claim 

140,  141 

Placer  claim  defined  137 

Placer    claim    containing 

lode  Ill 

Restrictions  to  location  ..  137 
Restrictions,       when      on 

surveyed  ground   1"8 

Subdivision  of  locations..  138 

Tunnels  '. 145 

Work  on  claims    n 145 

Mining  locations,  Canadian..  149 
Minerals,  how  to  search  for. .  114 
Minerals  in   northwest  terri- 
tories     3S1 

Minneapolis,  railroad  rates  to 

Pacific  seaports   104 

Missions    £67,  36S 

Missionaries    371 

Mission  creek   214 

Moore,     chief    weather     bu- 
reau     22S 

Mountain   river    2'i5 

Mosquitoes    243,  277 

Nahlin  river  49 

Nakinah  river   40,    41 

Nashville,    railroad   rates     to 

Pacific  seaports  105 

Newberry  (Hootalinqua)  riv- 


Page 
New  England  railroad  rates 

to  Pacific  seaports  —  100 
New    Orleans    railroad    rates 

to    Pacific  seapoits 105 

New  York,  railroad  rates    to 

Pacific  seaports  100 

Nisulantine  river   41) 

Nordenskiold   river    83 

North  American  Trading  and 

Transportation  Co..281,  291 

Norman  Fort  33 

Norton  sound  292 

Northwest  company  312 

Northwest  mounted  police.. 50,  170 
Northwest  territories. 149,   189.  190 

Novikakat  25 

Nuggets,  Klondike,  value  of..  163 
Nulato    25 

Ochre  in  Canada 382 

Ogilvie  William 

65,  213,  2.-7,  288,  291 

Ottawa  river  76 

Outcrops  (mining)   114 

OUTFITS— 

Amount  of  food  per  man 

per  year  50 

Back-door  route  103,  211 

Carr's  list  51 

Eli  A.  Gage's  325 

Food,  toofi,  etc 51,  52 

For  the  gold-seeker 50 

Medicine  chest  62 

Model  list,  party  of  4 55 

Northern  Pacific's  list 53 

Places  to  buy 61 

Prices   54,  56,  96,  97,  322 

Prospectors    113 

Standard  list 57,    58 

Weight  of  57 

Pacific  ocean  ports,  rates  to 
(see  railroads). 

Pan,  prospectors  113 

Panning  process  121 

PASSES— 

Chilkoot    26,  39,  97 

Dyea    26,  292 

Taiya  (Dyea)   292 

White   72 

Unimak  24 

Parka  (Parkee)  ?27 

Peace  river  ISO,  191,  193 

Peel  river  33,  34,  87.  192 

Pelly  river   16,  32,  7S,  84,  302 

Pembina  river  205 

Pemmican  (jerked  beef)  ..194,  195 

Perry  Arthur  171 

Petroleum,  Canada  382 

Phil  creek  16 

Philadelphia  railroad  rates  to 

Pacific  seaports  105 

Pittsburg    railroad    rates    to 

Pacific  seaports  106 


410 


INDEX   TO   CONTENTS. 


Feme 
PLACER  MINES— 

Canadian  regulations  —  149 

Character  gold 309 

Klondike  10< 

How  done  in  Alaska 17,    IS 

Pan  values  Klondike lOS 

Richness  of  Ifi2 

Guide    lOS 

Plumee  (Peel)  river  192 

Poor  man's  mine  P4 

PORTAGKS— 

Back-door  route  ?1 

Chilkoot  pass  26 

Cost  of  making PS 

Dog  lake  to  Salt  river....  192 
Edmonton     -     Athabasca 

landing  33.  190 

Fort     Macpherson   -   La- 

pierre  house  203 

Husky      river  -  Porcupine 

river  207 

Lake      Llndeman  -  Lake 

Bennett    26,    82 

Tia  Loche  193 

Peel  river-Stewart  river.. 

33,  195 

On  Takou  river 39,    41 

Smith  Landing-Ft.  Smith  192 
Simpson         Lake-Francis 

Lake    20.5 

White    Whale    lake-Pem- 

bina  river   205 

Portland,  railroad  rates  to.. 

100,  103,  104,  10". 

Post  office,  Dawson  City 273 

Post  office,  see  mails. 
PROSPECTOR'S  GUIDE  ....  lOS 
Alluvial  deposits  .  .110,  113,  114 

Affidavits  118 

Amalgamating  plates  .....  132 

Arsenic 113 

Assaying   116 

Auriferous  lodes  114 

Back  trenches  110 

Bed  rock 110 

Blowing  process  122 

]ioundaries  of  claims 117 

California  pump  133 

California  Tom  125 

Calc  spar  114,  115 

Certificates  required 120 

Channels    109 

Cl.aims,     how     to     locate, 

file,  record  and  convey 

116,  117,  118 

Cleaning  up   124,  131,  132 

Copper  pyrites   ....110,  113,  115 

Cradle  123,  124 

Cradling 123 

Deposits,  where  found 110 

Drifts    114 

Float  rocks   114 

Flow   of  water 110 

Fluor  .spar   114,113 


Page 
PROSPECTOR'S  GUIDE-Con. 

Foot  wall   115 

Gold,  in  alluvial  ground.,  lid 

Gold,  in  fine  powder 113 

Gold,  guiding  test 113 

Gold,  native  110 

Gold,  pure  113 

Ground  sluice  128 

Grub  pacJ-c  113 

Gulches   109 

Haininer   113 

Hanging  wall  115 

Horn  spoon  122 

Indications,  surface  115 

Iron  pyrites   110,  113,  115 

Land  office  regulations 

116,  117,  118,  119,  120 

Land  slide  114 

Lode  114,  115 

Long  Tom  125 

Ijower  wall  115 

Magnets    122 

Magnifying  glass  110,  113 

Materials     mistaken     for 

gold  113,  115 

Matrix    114 

Mercury  how  used 122,  131 

Mica  110,  113 

Mineral  veins  114 

Mother  lode  il4 

Mountain  chains  110 

Notice  of  intention 117 

Outcrops  114 

Pan  11.3,  121 

Panning    122 

Pick   113 

Placers    114 

Plat  of  survey 117 

Quartz    114,  115 

Record  of  location 118,  119 

Register  of  locater 123 

River  beds  109,  114 

Rocks,  loose   109 

Sections    114 

Shaft,  prospecting  115 

Shovel  113 

Sluices    120,  127,  128 

Streams,  gold-bearing 110 

Strike  of  lodes  115 

Sulphur  113 

Surface  indications  115 

Survey  of  Claim 116,  117 

Pump,   California   133 

Tools  113 

Upper  wall  115 

Valleys    114 

Veins,    mineral    114 

Walls 115 

Water  supply  for  pan —  123 
Water  supply  for  cradle..  125 
Water    supply    for    Long 

Tom   126 

Water  supply  for  sluicing 

127.  128 


INDEX   TO   CONTENTS. 


411 


Preston,  R.  E 342 

Providence,   Fort   33 

Pyrites    109,  110,  113,  115 

Quartz  creek  16 

Quartz,  described  114,115 

RAILROAD  PROJECTED— 

Athabasca  Landing  — 23,    58 
RAILROAD  RATES,  to  Pa- 
cific Ocean  100 

From  Atlanta 105 

From   Baltimore   105 

From  Buffalo  103 

From  Charleston  105 

From  Chicago  104 

From  Cincinnati  105,  106 

From  Denver  104 

From  Louisville  105 

From  Memphis  105 

From  Minneapolis  105 

From  Nashville   105 

From  New  Orleans 105 

From  New  York 105 

From  Omaha   10! 

From  Pittsburg  105,  106 

From  Philadelphia 105 

From  St.  Paul 104 

From  Washington   105 

On  Back  Door  route 105 

From  Chicago  to  Calgary  203 

Rainfall,  Alaska  228 

RAPIDS— 

Five  finger  83 

Great    191 

Rink    83 

White  Horse  31,    73 

Rates,  see  Railroads. 

Red  River  (of  the  North).. 73,  204 

Reliance,   Fort  85,87,    88 

Resolution,  Fort   33 

Rink  rapids   83 

RIVERS,  STREAMS,   CREEKS 

Adams  creek 16 

Anvik  river  312 

Athabasca  river   

33,  189,  190,  191,  193 

Bear  creek  16,  294 

Beaver  river  86,    87 

Beebe  creek  49 

Biche  (Athabasca)  river..  190 

Big   Salmon   river 78,  302 

Birch  creek  238,  304 

Bonanza  creek 

15,  16,  94,  162,  164,  166,  294 

Chandindu  river   88 

Chicken  creek  296 

Chilkat  river   292 

Clearwater  river  193 

Cone    Hill     (Forty    Mile) 

river  89 

Copper  river  238,  255 

Coppermine  river  382 

Crooked  creek  304 


Page 

RIVERS,  STREAMS,  CREEKS 
— Continued. 
D'Abbadie    (Big    Salmon) 

river  78 

Daly  (Little  Salmon)  river    78 

Davis  creek    262 

Dominion  creek 185 

Deer  (Klondike)  river 88 

El  Dorado  creek 

16.  94,  163,  164,  165,  294 

Elk   (Athabasca)   river 191 

First  left-hand  fork 16 

Fish  creek  304 

Forty  Mile  river 89 

Glacier  creek  296 

Gold  Bottom  creek..  16.  166,  294 

Gold  creek   298 

Great  Fish  river 189 

Great  Slave  river 189 

Hootalinqua       (Teslintoo) 

river.. 17,  32,  41,  72,  75,  76,  302 

Hunker  creek   16,  166,  294 

Indian    river.... 16,  238,  293,  295 

Innako  river  304 

Iskoot   river  48 

Katune  creek  40 

Kettleson  fork  16 

Koykuk  river  238 

Klaheela  river 293 

Klondike      (Thron-Diuck) 

river    ....15,  94,  162,  166,  293 

Last  Chance  creek 166 

Lewes  river 65,  71,  72,    73 

75,  76.  78.  84,  302 

Liard  river   77,  192,  193 

Little  Salmon  river  77 

Mackenzie  river 

33,  34,  189,  191,  192,  193 

Mastodon  creek  252 

McClintock  river  72 

Miller  creek  252.  296 

Mission  (American)  creek  214 

Molymute  creek  304 

Mountain  river  205 

Nahlin  river  49 

Nakinah  river   40,    41 

Newberry       (Hootalinqua 

or  Teslintoo)  river 75 

Nisulantine  river  49 

Nordenskiold  river 83 

Ottawa  river 76 

Peace  river  189,  191.  193 

Peel  river   33,  34,  87,  192 

Pelly  river  ....16,  32,  78,  84,  302 

Pembina  river  205 

Phil  creek  16 

Plumme  (Peel)  river 192 

Quartz  creek 16 

Red  river  (of  the  North).73,  204 

Rosebud  creek 86 

Saskatchewan  river 

73,  192,  204 

Sheep  creek  301 

Sixty  Mile  creek 31,    88 


412 


INDEX   TO    CONTENTS. 


Page 
RIVERS,  STREAMS,  CREEKS 
—Continued. 
Stewart  river 

16,  33.  85,  86,  87,  S8,  238,  302 
Stikeen  (Stickeen,  Stikine) 

river  41,  193 

Takou  (Taku)  river.. 39,  41,    76 
Tahkeenah      (Tehkeenah) 

river    73,  78,  293 

Tahltan  river   41,    42 

Tanana  river  25,  303 

Tatshun  river   84 

Tehkeena  (Tahkeena)  riv- 
er   73,    78 

Telegraph  creek  — 41,  42,    47 
Teslintoo       (Hootalinqua) 
river 

17,  32,  41,  72,  75,  76,  77,  78 
Thirty  Mile  (Lewes)  river  49 
Thron-Diuck      (Klondike) 

river  SS,  293 

Tilly  creek  294 

Too-much-gold  creek  ..16,  293 

Wheaton  river  66 

Whipple  creek  171 

White  river  85,  302 

Wild  creek  ;_.  304 

Yukon  river    15,   17,    32 

41,  42,  S4,  85,  87,  88,  162 

Ritchtofen  rocks  74 

Rockwell  (Juneau)  298 

Roquette  rock  90 

Rossland   gold  district 186 

Rosebud  creek  86 

Routes,    described    by    Omer 

Maris  24 

Routes,  see  Distances. 
ROUTES— 

All  water  via  St.  Michael 

24    25     96 

Back  Door 33,  99, 'm  204 

Dalton's,  via  Chilkat  in- 
let     292 

Juneau,  via  Dyea 25,    32 

Overland,  via  Dyea.. 26,  31,    32 

Stikeen  river  41,    47 

Takou  river  39,  40,    41 

"Via  White  pass 170 

St.  Michael  24,25,    96 

St.    Paul,   railroad    rates    to 

Pacific  seaports  104 

Salt  in  Canada 382 

San  Francisco,  railroad  rates 

to  100,  103,  104,  105 

Saskatchewan  river  ...73,  192,  204 
Schwatka,  Frederick 

66,  71,  78,  213 

Scurvy,  remedy  for 51 

Seattle    24,  25,  32,  41,  47 

Seattle,  railroad  rates  to 

100,  103,  104,  105 

Selkirk,  Fort  31.  84,  287 

Silver    302,  346,  357,  382 

Silver  Queen  mine 301 


Page 

Sitka    233,  298 

Sixty  Mile  creek 31,    88 

Simpson,  Fort  33 

Skagaway  (Skaguay)  bay....  189 
Sleeping  car  rates 

100,  103,  104,  105,  106 

Smith,  Fort  33 

Smith  Landing 33,    34 

Spurr  Prof.  J.  S 237 

STEAMERS— 

Baggage   98 

Fare  on  95,  97 

Mail,  schedule  257 

Stewart  river 

16,  33,  85,  86,  87,  88,  238,  302 

Stikeen   (Stikine)   river 41,  193 

Strander  Anton   173 

Streams,  see  rivers. 

Sulphur  in  Canada  382 

Tahkeena   river    73,  78,  293 

Tahltan  bridge  41 

Tahltan  river  41,    42 

Taiyea  (Dyea)  pass 72,  292 

Takou  (Taku)  inlet 292 

Takou  (Taku)  river 39,  41,    76 

Tanana  river  25 

Tariff  tax,   Canadian 62,    63 

Tatshun  river   84 

Telegraph  creek  41,42,    47 

Telegraph,  projected  264 

Alaska    228,  232 

Cudahy   232 

Mackenzie  river  basin....  194 

Sitka   232 

Tent,    Yukon   river 327 

Teslintoo  (Hootalinqua)  river    72 

Test,   for  gold 113 

Test  for  mica 113 

Test  for  pyrites 113 

Thirty  Mile  (Lewes)  river 49 

Thron-Diuck  (Klondike)  river    88 

Tilly  creek  294 

Tools,  see  Outfit. 

Too-much-gold  creek  16 

Tourist  sleepers,  rates 

lO^J,  103,  104,  105,  106 
TRADING  POSTS— 

Athabasca  landing 190 

Chippewayan,    Fort 33,193 

Edmonton   33,  99 

Good  Hope,  Fort 33,  193 

Macpherson.  Fort 33,193 

McMurray,  Fort 33,  193 

Norman,   Fort    33,  193 

Providence,  Fort  33,  193 

Reliance,  Fort  33,  193 

Resolution,  Fort 33,  193 

Simpson,  Fort   33,  193 

Smith,   Fort   33,  192,  193 

Wrangel  Fort  41 

Wrigley,  Fort  33,  193 

TRAILS— 

Dease  lake  41 

Kaukitchie  lakes  49 


INDEX   TO   CONTENTS. 


413 


Page 

TRAILS— Continued. 

Telegraph  creek  41 

Stikeen  river 48 

Treadwell  mine  301,  302 

Unimak  pass 24 

Vancouver  railroad  rates   to 

100,  103,  104,  105 

Vegetables,  Cudahy  284,  285 

Vegetables,   Klondike   271 

Veins,  mineral,  how  found..  114 
Victoria,  B.  C,  railroad  rates 

to  100,  103,  104,  105 

Volcanoes  in  Alaska 399 

Wages  in  Klondike  district..  169 
Wages,   in  Youkon  district..  242 
Washington,    D.   C,   railroad 
rates    to    Pacific    sea- 
ports     105 

Water,  required  for  panning  123 
Water,  required  for  sluicing  126 
Wells,  A.  E 233 


Page 

Wheaton  river   66 

Whipple  creek  171 

White  river 72,    85 

Winter,  in  the  Klondike 23 

Wrangel,   Fort    41 

Wrigley,  Fort  33 

YUKON  DISTRICT— 

Agricultural  possibilities..  386 

Claims,  value  of 281 

First  miners  288 

First  prospected  386 

Geographical  divisions  ...  302 

Known  for  years 381 

Prospecting  in  Il3 

Spurr's  report  on 237,  251 

Yukon   Fort   25,  287,  288 

YUKON    RIVER— 

Explorations   293 

Gold  first  discovered 302 

Headwaters  42 

Navigation   292 

Report  on  by  Ogilvie..  .65,  287 

Yukon  sled  326 


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News  from  the  Klondike. 

THE  CHICAGO  RECORD  was  the  only  newspaper  in  the 
United  States  which  had  a  correspondent  in  the  Klondike  region  at 
the  time  of  the  great  strike  of  gold.  Mr.  William  D.  Johns  an- 
nounced the  Klondike  discovery  in  THE  CHICAGO  RECORD  in  an 
article  published  March  2,  lS97,  which  had  been  sent  out  of  the 
Yukon  country  1,000  miles  by  dog  sledge  to  the  coast.  Three 
articles  by  Eli  Gage,  son  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  also  gave 
information  of  these  gold  llelds  before  the  great  excitement  caused 
by  the  return  of  shiploads  of  fortunate  gold  seekers  by  the  Excel- 
sior to  San  Francisco  and  by  the  Portland  to  Seattle. 

Under  date  of  June  18  Mr.  Johns  wrote  again  from  the  Klon- 
dike to  THE  CHICAGO  RECORD,  giving  in  detail  the  results  of  the 
digging  up  to  that  date. 

In  the  summer  of  1896  Omer  Maris,  a  journalist  of  ability,  and 
a  gold-mining  expert,  was  sent  to  the  Yukon  country  by  THE  CHI- 
CAGO RECORD.  His  many  articles  on  the  country  and  the  gold- 
mining  operations  there  attracted  wide  attention.  At  the  mouth  of 
the  Klondike  river  he  met  and  conversed  with  George  Carmack, 
who  four  weeks  later  discovered  the  great  placer  gold  deposits  a 
few  miles  away  which  now  comprise  the  famous  diggings.  Mr. 
Maris  sailed  again  from  Seattle  Aug.  2,  1897,  in  the  fast  yacht 
Rosalie  for  Juneau  and  Dyea  as  THE  CHICAGO  RECORD'S  chief 
representative  in  the  Yukon  region.  As  he  is  familiar  with  the 
country  he  will  probably  reach  Dawson  City  in  an  unusually  short 
space  of  time  and  will  remain  there  all  winter,  sending  out  dis- 
patches as  often  as  possible.  Mr.  Johns  will  also  remain  as  a  rep- 
resentative of  THE  CHICAGO  RECORD  on  the  Klondike  river. 
William  J.  Jones,  United  States  Commissioner  for  Alaska,  is  also  a 
regular  correspondent  for  THE  RECORD  from  the  gold  fields. 

Correspondents  at  Juneau,  St.  Michael,  Victoria,  Tacoma, 
Seattle,  San  Francisco  and  Edmonton,  N.  W.  T.,  are  looking  after 
news  of  the  gold  fields  for  THE  CHICAGO  RECORD.  In  Ottawa, 
Montreal  and  Toronto  special  correspondents  will  give  the  news  of 
the  gold  fields  coming  from  Canadian  official  sources.  Mr.  Lee,  a 
special  correspondent  for  THE  RECORD,  is  on  his  way  to  the  Klon- 
dike by  way  of  Lake  Athabasca,  the  Mackenzie  river  and  Fort 
McPherson,  and  through  the  coming  fall  and  winter  will  describe 
that  important  route,  long  traveled  by  voyageurs  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  company.  THE  CHICAGO  RECORD  has  led  on  news  from  the 
Klondike  and  the  Yukon  region  and  will  continue  to  furnish  abso- 
lutely reliable  reports. 


TtiE  CHICAGO  RECORD 

Prints  all  the  news  from  all  the  world,  it  is  a  member  of 
The  Associated  Press  and  special  correspondents  represent 
it  at  all  important  news  centers.  Its  facilities  for  news- 
gathering  are  unsurpassed  by  those  of  any  other  Chicago 
daily. 

It  is  a  short-and-to-the-point  paper.  Its  matter  of  all 
kinds  is  closely  edited  with  the  view  of  giving  the  reader 
all  the  news  of  the  day  and  eliminating  the  merely  trivial  and 
inconsequential.  It  is  designed  to  be  a  daily  paper  for  busy 
people. 

It  is  an  independent  newspaper.  It  aims  to  be  fair  and 
impartial  in  discussing  men  and  measures  and  to  give  its 
readers  all  political  news  free  from  the  taint  of  partisan  bias. 

It  is  pre-eminently  a  family  newspaper.  It  is  clean 
-throughout  and,  in  addition  to  "all  the  news"  tersely  told, 
every  issue  contains  more  or  less  entertaining  matter  of  a 
literary  and  general  character  of  common  interest  in  the 
family  circle.  A  daily  installment  of  an  original  serial  story 
of  high  grade  is  a  regular  feature. 

The  circulation  of  The  Record  averages  over  190,000 
copies  a  day  and  is  the  largest — very  much  the  largest — 
morning  circulation  in  Chicago. 

The  Record  is  sold  by  newsdealers  everywhere  and 
is  delivered  by  carriers  anywhere  in  Chicago.  Order  of 
newsdealers  or  by  postal  card  to  the  office  of  publication, 
181  E,  Madison-st,  Chicago. 


Nothing  in  This  World 

Is  so  cheap  as  a  newspaper,  whether  it  be 
measured  by  the  cost  of  its  production  or  by  its 
value  to  the  consumer.  We  are  talking  about  an 
American,  metropolitan,  daily  paper  of  the  first 
class  like  THE  CHICAGO  RECORD.  It's  so  cheap 
and  so  good  you  can't  afford  in  this  day  of 
progress  to  be  without  it.  There  are  other  papers 
possibly  as  good,  but  none  better,  and  none  just 
like  it.  It  prints  all  the  real  news  of  the 
world — the  news  you  care  for—  every  day,  and 
prints  it  in  the  shortest  possible  space.  You  can 
read  THE  CHICAGO  RECORD  and  do  a  day's 
work  too.  It  is  an  independent  paper  and  gives 
all  political  news  free  from  the  taint  of  party 
bias.  In  a  word — it's  a  complete,  condensed, 
clean,  honest  family  newspaper,  and  it  has  the 
largest  morning  circulation  in  Chicago  or  the 
west— 190,000  to  200,000  a  day. 

Prof.  J.  T.  Hatfield  of  the  Northwestern 
University  says:  *'THE  CHICAGO  RECORD 
comes  as  near  being  the  ideal  daily  jour= 
nal  as  we  are  for  some  time  likely  to  find 
on  these  mortal  shores/* 

Sold  by  newsdealers  everywhere,  and  sub- 
scriptions received  by  all  postmasters.  Address 
THE  CHICAGO  RECORD,  181  Madison-st. 


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